LISTEN: Si Kahn, “Been a Long Time”

Artist: Si Kahn
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Song: “Been a Long Time”
Album: Been a Long Time (released in 2000, reissued 2021)
Release Date: October 15, 2021
Label: Sliced Bread Records

In Their Words: “I never waited in a house built of grey rock and stone for Gabriel Kahn, my father’s father, my grandfather, my Zade to come home from a job on the railroad. But it’s also true that after ‘Gabe’ deserted the Czar’s army in Russia, he indentured himself to the Canadian Pacific Railway, a year’s labor in return for ship’s passage to Canada, swinging a pick, digging with a shovel as they built the roadbed and laid the track. Did hearing his stories, told in Yiddish-tinged English, inspire me to write the song ‘Been a Long Time’? I don’t know. It’s been too long a time. But listening to the song now for the first time in many years, I am grateful to welcome him home.” — Si Kahn

Photo Credit: Janice Jo Lee