The Festival of Lights has been around longer than Christmas, hence has more musical versions.
Ted Wulfers’ “The Hanukkah Blues” retells it like it is. The Chosen Peoples know the Blues.
Jazz usually interprets ‘Hanukkah O Hanukkah’ or one of the standards. For that Vince Guaraldi sound, check out the smooth “Hanukkah’s Song” by the Dennis Angel Band.
“A Rock ‘N Roll Hanukkah” comes from the musical ‘That Time of the Year,’ lyrics by Laurence Holzman & Felicia Needleman; performed by Thom Christopher Warren & A.J. Irvin. Meh, some roofs may have been slightly raised. “Hanukkah Rocks” by Gefilte Joe and the Fish slams harder, but is showing signs of age. Check out the novelty vinyl!
Quieter country folk is accomplished by Doni Zasloff singing “Eight.” She’s got some kinda weird pop band with a mission.
But her album Chanukah Fever reads as kid pop.
4fOrDy1 yells out “Chanukah (Rap Remix)” keeping it real. I guess. This may recall the old chetnut “Hanukkah Homeboy” by Doc Mo She. But that’s from back when Dr. Demento had a radio show… on the airwaves… on FM. Still the video is achla.
Rave electronica looks like Matisyahu’s “Happy Hanukkah.” Holy moley.
Ultimately The Seattle Mens’ Chorus put it together for “Boogie Woogie Chanukah.” Here’s a musical journey through the holiday. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll check your watch. Rest assured, it’s shorter than eight nights.
Klezmer originally meant musical instruments. But it came to represent a style of celebratory dance music. Can’t have a proper Chanukah party without some bass booming and clarinet wailing like the souls of the lost.
“Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer” in Yiddish (and Klezmer) doesn’t work as well by Kugelplex. Love their Disney cartoon, too.
If you have the time, make your way through this entire Klezmer Nutcracker by Shirim. Yeah it’s The Holidays, i know you’re busy! You’ll feel better afterwards–trust me!
Everyone expects the Novelty here to be Adam Sandler’s “Hanukkah Song Part 2” (have you heard Neil Diamond‘s original?), but NO–can’t hear that One More Time. No means something else.
Yet, while we’re on the Billy Madison topic, check on the fan parody by René Marcellus and Christina Hondromihalis. They really want to be in one of his movies or something, so they sing about Chanukah to Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance.’ It’s called “Gaga Hanukkah with Adam Sandler.” You might believe it after you’ve seen it.
Gotta give Sandler the props for his cartoon movie “Eight Crazy Nights.” I watch this every year and still laugh (go figure). The weirdly realistic animation (Ralph Bakshi stylized), the super-cool man-child loser hero, the two-edged sword of ageism and intolerance toward prejudice, and the meandering moralistic songs… wow. I could go “The Bum Biddy Song” because it’s more ethnic, but i always default with “Davey’s Song.” Rebellious angst and holiday hate. Isn’t that just a little bit Chanukah?
First off: Chanukah, what is it, who does it, how do you spell it?
Not my job, people. (If you want to learn if it’s Jesus’ Christmas, view the Puppet Tutorial.)
But i will celebrate the music. The LeeVees is the merger of two NY rock bands (one reportedly only wrote songs about hockey) in order to fill in the gap of cool Chanukah songs. Their ’05 album Hanukkah Rocks does that and more. You should also laugh to “Applesauce vs. Sour Cream” and “Goyim Friends.”
BLUE ALERT: PEOPLE ARE SWEARING MAD ABOUT THIS DAY
Black Friday, the special discount day for retailers right after Thanksgiving, is arguably the first day of Christmas, certainly the first day of Xcess. Not everyone wants to celebrate it.
Without music, SGT Report exposes the depressing truth behind our greedy grab economy. Truth Stream Media poetically transposes retro ads with horrifying stampedes of lower middle classers killing each other, in case you weren’t sure that Black Friday was bad.
Asalieri2’s screed against the special day “Happy Black Friday!” runs against the music of ‘Have a Merry Little Christmas’ while ‘tubing disturbing footage of shoving and punching and grabbing. Okay, i will stay home.
Monique Nagel (i think) has recorded “Black Friday Shopping Song” to the tune of ‘We Three Kings.’ I did not see this one coming. It’s mournful and clever.
The Resident has a cute ‘Jingle Bells’ riff with her “The Black Friday Song.” She’s adorably ironic if not outright funny punching us in our capitalist faces (look out, she swears!).
The Holderness Family also abuses ‘Jingle Bells’ for “Better Than Black Friday” which addresses the all-important Amazon Prime Day. FrGdsakes.
The popular trick here is to make fun of Rebecca Black’s song ‘Friday.’ Alex Kimball gets acoustic piano and parodic with his “Black Friday Song” as well. This is a rehearsal surely. “Black Friday Night Song” by ‘Two Pretty Girls’ looks like a dare, but plays like a shoulda woulda girl band that never happened. Sing to that laptop girls! Jessica Frech tilts into professionalism with her “Black Friday Night Song.” Great production values; good song skills. Ally Hills pulls sweet with her “Black Friday” and triggers my paradeus button. Loves me some note-for-note parody of pop songs bending the Merry way. (Insanely, Kohls stores has a commerical spot with this same idea.)
Original songs get slightly more fun. Paul Howard recites his “Black Friday” (guess you’d call that a capella) telling the heroic story of his shopping prowess, but keeps going and going and going….
Libby Allen does her “Black Friday” as a kids’ song. Its limited musical range and emphatic repetitiveness should make it funnier than it is. But no, not a insta-classic.
Barry Finnerty and Clarita Zarate’s “Black Friday: The Song” sings the blues about consumerism and crowding (footage of the Huns storming!). but their snark undercuts all our Christmas dreams.
Eric Folkerth gets serious for just a moment with “The Martyr of Black Friday” honoring the memory of Jdmytai Damour, the man trampled to death at a New York Walmart in 2008 on Black Friday. Holy crap, he really wants to remind us of God’s message AND sermonize over this.
All emo alt-pop comes Jim Berhle of Skibunnynot singing “Black Friday Theme Song.” He wins me over with his computer progammed melody and punchy vocals.
Brett Newski tries out hard folk rock (“better to burn out than fade away” Brett?) with “Black Friday Totally Sucks.” Judgment during the holiday times just seems so screamingly snide from this dude.
The real deal here is the banjo-tastic folksie “Black Friday No More” recorded at the dining room table by Elizabeth Loring and Larry White. The satire of our ridiculous ways is so much more palatable with bluegrass.
Beth Crowley sings “Black Friday” as a 90 second musical theater tribute. Soulful and meaningful.
Shop? Protest? Cuddly teddy bear Kevin Gisi finally takes the subject seriously! His “The Black Friday Carol” wants you to go out and buy and he does it in such a christmassy style it makes me cry just a little. Like Michael Crawford in ‘Phantom.’
Thanksgiving is not JUST about food. Neither is Christmas. But without that excessive feast neither would be complete.
The process of creating the Christmas dindin sounds so familiar when The Wiggles sing “The Turkey Jumps Right Out of the Pie.” I’m not sure if they are mistaking this guinea fowl for a blackbird, but what’s this about having underdone pot pie for the holidays?
A few carols mention the turkey for the season. Many are misdirects (like Elton John’s “Ho Ho Ho Who’d be a Turkey at Christmas?” which is some loud 1973 party song welcoming Santa).
My favorite big bird roast for 12/25 would have to be “Sidemeat’s Christmas Goose” by Riders in the Sky. These high-pitched cow-posers really tell a story with their funny accents and grunts and groans and pitch perfect harmony.
But let’s get American Urban: The Arrogant Worms’ “Christmas Turkey Blues” mixes hot jazz, Memphis blues, and just a touch of hip hop to bring that poor turkey’s troubles home. Let his wattle wail, brother.
Most Christmas songs about soldiers are miserable miss-you affairs like “I’ll Be Brave This Christmas” (Big Daddy Weave) or “Waiting for Christmas” (Melodie Chrittenden Kirkpatrick). Or even angry send-my-baby-home country screaming like Melissa Ethridge’s “Christmas in America.”
More upbeat stuff is performed by military bands, like The United States Air Force Concert Band And Singing Sergeants (i like their “Mr. Santa“).
Except i do like one boots on the ground parody from Zack Applewhite taking off “Up On the Rooftop” (no one does that one). From John Yossarian to Gomer Pyle to Quintan McHale, we find a sense of humor ameliorates the madness of wartimes. And that’s what Christmas is sometimes about.
Randy Brooks wrote “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” 1979 and has been cashing in ever since. Now, i hope to never to reference that song again, nor any of its dozens of doofus derivations, but the guy has got a song on his Randy Brooks’s Greatest Hit album from ’12 that addresses what i need to have said. Once Halloween is out of the way, nothing will stop the purposeful authorized onslaught of Christmas decoration and musicality.
So please allow this odd folk song “It’s Hallowe’en (A Christmas Song)“with its simple melody and special sacred sarcasm to transport you onto the holiday highway–it’s one way now.
The absolute scariest Christmas song ever has to be Fred’s “Christmas is Creepy.”
Fred Figglehorn, as grown out of by Lucas Cruikshank, was a helium-voiced six-year-old with deep emotional problems and millions of followers on his Youtube channel, and on Nickleodeon.
He’s as amusing as a screeching contest, but his song deals with the childhood traumas wrought by Christmas TV specials and stories on the overimaginatively young (He’s coming into the house? When I’m asleep?!)
It’s an added bonus that the performer is so upsetting and the song is so familiarly upbeat. I’m creeps totes.
