What If I told You | Gabriel Kahane

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What If I told You

from Book of Travelers by Gabriel Kahane

supported by

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Book of Travelers CD
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Comes in a digipak with complete lyrics and original photography. You will be emailed a link to download a song upon pre-ordering, and will receive four additional songs (one every 10-14 days) leading up to the release. (Image is just a mock-up; physical product doesn't exist yet!)

Includes unlimited streaming of Book of Travelers via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out
Buy the Full Digital Album
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
**We have resumed regular shipping (24-48 hours from placement of order)**

A new, limited edition pressing of the critically-acclaimed 2018 album is here on gorgeous translucent orange vinyl.

“a stunning portrait of a singular moment in America” — Rolling Stone
“one of the finest, most searching songwriters of the day” — Alex Ross, The New Yorker

Includes unlimited streaming of Book of Travelers via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 2 days

edition of 500 5 remaining

Purchasable with gift card

$18 USD or more
Sheet Music
PLEASE NOTE: this item is currently being reprinted and will ship in 3-4 weeks.

Full Score, Piano & Voice, for Book of Travelers. Engraved, note for note, by the composer. 70 pp.

ships out within 21 days

Purchasable with gift card

$30 USD or more

lyrics

“What if I told you
That I’m on this train
Because my two grown sons were frightened—
Me driving through the night
On a stretch of farm-stand highway
In Mississippi—

‘Cause they don’t need a hood or a cross or a tree.

What if I told you
That I’m headed to a funeral in Tupelo
On the hundred acre farm
Purchased by my great-grandfather
Who learned to read
‘Cause his master’s daughter,
Taught him secretly,

And not knowing
What kind of schooling
His own children would receive,
He taught them never to sign
Their names on anything—

‘Cause they don’t need a hood or a cross or a tree.

And would he have believed
That his great-granddaughter—
All the way to the Ivy League?

And would he have believed
The millions of dollars—
And yet still unsafe
On that stretch of farm-stand highway?

What if I told you
That my eldest son
Loves a white girl
Whom I adore,
But who lives in a part of town where
A black man might be mistaken for—

‘Cause they don’t need a hood or a cross or a tree.
No, they don’t need a hood or a cross or a tree.

And if I told you all of that,
Maybe you would understand
Why I have limited sympathy
For your desire to know the suffering
Of the working white man.”

Monica explained
In the dining car
As we hurtled South
In the growing dark.

credits

from Book of Travelers, released August 24, 2018

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Gabriel Kahane image

Gabriel Kahane Portland, Oregon

Gabriel Kahane is eating chocolate bread.

shows

Apr 26

Wellspring Theater, Epic Center

Kalamazoo, MI
May 3

Herbst Theatre, War Memorial Performing Arts Center

San Francisco, CA
May 4

The Reser

Beaverton, OR
May 7

The Parkway

Minneapolis, MN
May 9

Mass MoCA

North Adams, MA
May 11

92nd Street Y

New York (NYC), NY

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