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To Be American (oxblood glow edition)

by Gabriel Kahane

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lyrics

To be American again,
Teenaged and certain of innocence:
Six lanes of Western caravan
Burn fuel to speed up the renaissance.

Before the trench coats and the roped off rooms,
The shell-shocked mothers and the TV crews,

Foreclosing a grand old dream—
Black motorcade running on empty,
Big box and a Ponzi scheme,
Drain everything, land of the plenty.

In high school I sang in the choir
With all the Mormons from Rohnert Park.
Now all their houses are on fire;
Strange glow of oxblood in the dark.

I think we all meant well, or so I thought,
That season, privilege was a parking spot.

Foreclosing a grand old dream—
Black motorcade running on empty,
Big box and a Ponzi scheme,
Drain everything, land of the plenty.

If Reconstruction and the War
Seemed distant back in eleventh grade,
How quaint our simple lives before
Seem now in face of the coming days.

Foreclosing a grand old dream—
Black motorcade running on empty,
Big box and a Ponzi scheme,
Drain everything, land of the plenty.

Our furniture’s on the street;
In every church last rites are spoken.
One criminal’s soft defeat
Can’t change the fact that we’re broken.

credits

released November 2, 2021
Written, performed, recorded, and mixed by Gabriel Kahane.
Mastered by Henri Bardot.

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Gabriel Kahane Portland, Oregon

Gabriel Kahane is eating chocolate bread.

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