9/11 Anthem ‘Have You Forgotten’ Gets Re-Released As Singer Calls For Unity In Divided America

Today marks the 22nd anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. To mark this solemn occasion, the singer Darryl Worley has re-released his 9/11 anthem “Have You Forgotten?” along with a message of unity for an America that is more divided than ever.

But first, relive the greatness of the original song in the video below.

New Version Of ‘Have You Forgotten?’

Worley initially released “Have You Forgotten?” back in 2003 as a reminder of how devastating the 2001 terrorist attacks really were, teaming up with Wynn Varble to write it. The new version of the song is called “Have We Forgotten?,” and it includes some reworked lyrics that promote a message of unity.

Worley, 58, told Fox News that it was the singer-songwriter Noah Gordon who first approached him about doing a new version of the song.

“He said, ‘Man, I woke up at 3 a.m. this morning with this crazy idea,” Worley remembered. “I think that you and Wynn should rewrite a new lyric for the song ‘Have You Forgotten?’ because of all that’s going on in our nation today 20 years later. I really believe that it could be like the most righteous thing you could ever do with that song.'”

“His idea was to call it ‘Have We Forgotten?’ and write it about our division and how just what, if anything, that anyone could do to bring about a little bit of unity might help in our nation,” he continued.

Worley initially had reservations about doing this, however, as he was reluctant to mess with his biggest hit.

“When he first mentioned it to me, I looked at him like he had a horn growing out his head because I didn’t want to take it,” he recalled. “I said, ‘This is my crown jewel, man.’ I don’t want to give ‘Have You Forgotten?’ a black eye.'”

“But the more I thought about it, the more I dwelt on it,” he continued. “I got in touch with Wynn, and I sort of pitched it to him. And so we got together and did a lot of soul searching and talking about this. And we decided, ‘Hey, you know what? If it affects a thousand people, and they have maybe just a little bit of a new thought process about what could we do to be a part of the solution as opposed to part of the problem.'”

Related: Report: Biden Will Remember 9/11 at a Quick Air Force One Fuel Stop in Alaska On His Way Home From Vietnam

Worley Rewrites Hit Song

That’s when Worley decided to give rewriting the song a try.

“I said, ‘Hey, we write the song. If it’s terrible, we’ll throw it in the garbage,” he said. “And we never tell anybody that we even did this. So, that’s the worst that can happen. The first song was very spontaneous. It was just our gut feeling about things. And this time we just wanted to be sure that we said it right.”

Worley can’t help but think that America needs unity now more than ever.

“It’s not that anything’s really changed about our core beliefs. It’s just that I think we could all have the ability to compromise a little bit,” he explained. “And it seems like the American people are caught up in this drama and this conflict and just always at odds about something.

“And, I mean, man, I just keep going back to 9/12, how unified we were,” he added. “The most amazing thing that I’ve seen in all of my years. And I think it’s terrible it has to come to something like that for our people to show their American pride. You know, pull together as one.”

Check out “Have We Forgotten?” for yourself in the video below.

Related: Ramaswamy: The Government Hasn’t Told Us The Truth About 9/11

‘Have We Forgotten?’

The lyrics of the original song open with, “I hear people saying we don’t need this war / I say there’s some things worth fighting for / What about our freedom and this piece of ground / We didn’t get to keep ’em by backing down.”

In the new song, the beginning goes, “I hear people saying our best days are gone / A people once united can’t even get along / A nation so divided, a country torn in two / It’s such a shame after all that we’ve been through.”

Later in the new version, Worley calls on Americans to come together, singing “The whole wide world is watching while we go ’round and ’round / We need to come together, y’all, and we better do it now.”

Worley wants to promote “Have We Forgotten?” as much as he can so that as many people as possible hear its message.

“It’s really not a project that is about trying to gain fame or fortune or any of that,” he said. “We just want people to hear this. We want it to get a chance to get out there, you know, whether it be through country radio cycles and circuits or if it’s just digital, it doesn’t matter. We just want people to hear the message.”

Anyone who was alive during the 9/11 terrorist attacks can remember just how united America was in its aftermath. If only we could all come together again in that way without needing a massive tragedy to make it happen.