Notes from the Front

Reporting from a war zone may be the toughest assignment a journalist can get. Along with the flak jacket and the satellite phone, music — an iPod, Walkman or just a noisy singalong — can be a war correspondent's best friend. Here are a few tunes that have given our reporters a respite while covering Iraq.

Aparisim Ghosh
I never leave home without The Best of Daler Mehndi, a compilation of uptempo bhangra standards by India's best-selling pop act. It's Punjabi dance music at its best. I've made Mehndi fans out of cab drivers in Jenin, Gaza, Amman and Baghdad.

Alex Perry
Perhaps the best number was: Why Can't We Be Friends? by War, which photographer Bob Nickelsberg and I (and our taxi driver) sang along with (rather tunelessly) as we finally headed out of Baghdad for Amman.

Simon Robinson
One of my most vivid memories is singing Three Dog Night's Joy to the World with the U.S. Marines in the Amtrac I was traveling in during the terrible sandstorm that hit on Day Four. Later that night, huddled in the vehicle, I discovered I could sing at the top of my lungs, so sing I did; in particular, Throw Your Arms Around Me by Australian band Hunters and Collectors.