There are Christmas songs and there are Hanukkah songs. And then there’s the category of songs about the Jewish experience of Christmas. For example, there’s the TV Funhouse video that appeared on SNL, “Christmas for the Jews.” And then you’ve got Dr. Dyke & The Cinnamon Cowboys expressing a view of Christmas in Los Angeles, [...]
“Maccabees, yeah, yeah!”
Tonight was the second night of Hanukkah, so I’m a little behind in posting some appropriate songs. In the words of my old joke, “…Hanukkah songs (a.k.a. Chanukah, Hannukah, Hanukah, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Hanuka, Channukah, Hanukka, Hanaka, Haneka, Hanika and Khanukkah — so don’t worry, you can’t spell it wrong).” First, an instrumental from Portland band, [...]
Go, Maccabees, Go!
It’s the fifth night of Hanukkah and it only seems right to post another couple songs for the Festival of Lights. How’s that oil holding out? Washington, DC’s retro alt-country outfit Honky Tonk Confidential contributes what may be the first country-western Hanukkah song. The lyrics hit all the highlights of the festivities (at least, as [...]
The Festival of Lights
Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, and I usually include that in my holiday offerings. As I once quipped, “…Hanukkah songs (a.k.a. Chanukah, Hannukah, Hanukah, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Hanuka, Channukah, Hanukka, Hanaka, Haneka, Hanika and Khanukkah — so don’t worry, you can’t spell it wrong).” Adam Gardner of Guster and Dave Schneider of the Zambonis [...]
Sounds of the Season ‘08
As usual, here’s the recap post of all of this year’s songs. See past posts for the documentation. Liberace with George Liberace & His Orchestra – ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas — BUY Henry Rollins – Twas the Night Before Christmas — BUY Shallow – Santa Claus, You Broke My Heart — BUY Ray & [...]
The Festival of Light Strumming and Heavy Beats
I try to have a little something for everybody during this annual seasonal music celebration. And since Hanukkah began at sundown this past Sunday, here are a couple tunes to assist your Maccabee-boy in getting festive. Here’s a dub remix of the traditional “Oh Chanukah.” It fascinates me how little has to be done to [...]
Kevin & Bean Kristmas: Chosen People in da House!
[This is part of The John M. Higgins Memorial Xmasganza.] Moving into the final stages of our holiday madness… One of the things John and I collected were the annual Kevin & Bean Christmas CDs. They’re the morning team at the radio station KROQ in Los Angeles, where they’ve been since 1989 (the same year [...]
Gelt, guilt, whichever…
The dreidel is a four-sided top with a Hebrew letter on each side: Nun, Gimel, Hey, Shin. This stands for the phrase Nes Gadol Haya Sham – “A great miracle happened there.” The dreidel doesn’t seem to get much respect. You win chocolate money with it. Now, if they had competitive dreidel on TV, maybe [...]
Me? I use sour cream AND applesauce.
The last time Hannakuh started on Christmas was back in 1959. Some of these songs don’t really work when Christmas comes first, but just use your imagination or hold on to these songs until next year. First, a song that captures that outsider status that Jews sometimes hold in America. But then we get another [...]
Choosing latkes over Christmas ham.
Hannukah comes unusually late this year; it’s typically over by Christmas, thus leaving Jews out in the cold. But what’s a Jew to do on Christmas Day? Here are two potential options. Adam Goren of Atom & His Package is kinda punk and kinda pop and very funny. The band Atom & His Package was [...]