I need a good English Hanukkah song for a school concert

October 28, 2010 9:20 AM

As my school's lone Jewish teacher, the task of choosing a Hanukkah song for the holiday concert has fallen to me. Help me choose an awesome song for my lovely but very non-Jewish students.

I have made suggestions in previous years and the music teacher has pretty much ignored them in favour of the path of least resistance and done the 'O Hanukkah, O Hanukkah' song---three years in a row. I am determined to convince her to choose something different this year, but all the Hanukkah songs I know except the little ones like the dreidl song are in Hebrew. I need a good English song on the complexity level of 'O Hanukkah' that is not overly religious-sounding and which the kids could knock out of the park. Suggestions?

posted by JoannaC to Society & Culture (21 answers total)

Not sure of the age group you are working with, but would any of these do?
posted by apartment dweller at 9:30 AM on October 28, 2010

Hanukkah Blessings by Barenaked Ladies/Steven Page?
posted by Shoeburyness at 9:31 AM on October 28, 2010

It sounds like your first problem is talking to the music teacher and finding out why she has ignored your suggestions. Were they too tentative? ("It might be nice if..") Were they phrased explicitly as requests that were then ignored? Do you think she ignored them because she's not interested in teaching them new music?

What about "Light One Candle" by Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul & Mary)?
posted by canine epigram at 9:31 AM on October 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

Or in a more tongue-in-cheek vein, "Hannukah, Ya!" (take-off on an Outkast song)
posted by canine epigram at 9:36 AM on October 28, 2010

Would the Peter, Paul, and Mary song Light One Candle fit the bill? It's a little bit long, and may be harder to teach depending the ages of the kids ... but it's a pretty good example of a Chanukah song that lots of different people can get behind, even people who don't celebrate the holiday.

It's also a pretty song.
posted by bookgirl18 at 9:37 AM on October 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

My daughters high school actually did Adam Sandler's Hannukah Song. It was introduced by the one Jewish student in the choir, who pointed out that yes she's Jewish but she also likes to have fun, so enjoy it. Most of the audience was feeling very PC-guilty, but she said it was ok, so we enjoyed it.
posted by CathyG at 9:43 AM on October 28, 2010

Previously, though not limited to kids. A quick search isn't turning up anything useful on one of the other ones my elementary school did, with a verse about Hannukah and a verse about Christmas that are then sung together in counterpoint -- "Here in my house there are candles burning bright, one for every night of the holiday" and "And in my neighbor's house, the lights are shining too, red and green and blue, 'round the door".
posted by nonane at 9:47 AM on October 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

My daughter's all-girl, RC high school (which had Jewish, Buddhist and Eastern Orthodox students) also embraced Adam Sandler. Big hit at the Christmas mass/concert.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:47 AM on October 28, 2010

I bought an album last year by the Klezmatics singing Hanukkah songs written by Woody Guthrie. Here is the Amazon link. They are fun and cute songs and would work very well.
posted by aabbbiee at 9:57 AM on October 28, 2010

On my iPod so no links but members of the band Guster put out a whole album called Hanukkah Rocks under the name of the LeeVees. Really fun uptempo songs with great harmonies and hilarious lyrics.
posted by alygator at 10:03 AM on October 28, 2010

Here's a link to several clips of great Hanukkah songs. My favorite simple ones as a child were "Mattathias Bold" and "Who Can Retell?"

http://sheeramusic.com/cgi-bin/sheera.pl?Albums?KB99

Here are full lyrics to all those, plus more:
http://ot006.urj.net/chanukah.htm
posted by juniperesque at 10:24 AM on October 28, 2010

Like Canine Epigram, I'm wondering if your music teacher is constrained: A state-approved song list, some kind of budgetary issue revolving around the music itself (do you have to pay royalties when a school sings a copyrighted song??) that sort of thing. Something to check into as you strategize.
posted by Ys at 10:24 AM on October 28, 2010

Tom Lehrer (if you don't know who this is then you really need to find out right now damn it) wrote Hannukah in Santa Monica.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 11:30 AM on October 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

And, obviously, I can't spell Hanukkah.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 11:31 AM on October 28, 2010

Here are some Englis-ified, American-ized, 1950s-ified Chanukkah songs:

Audio Album
posted by Paquda at 11:32 AM on October 28, 2010

third vote for 'light one candle'
posted by sabh at 11:35 AM on October 28, 2010

I am a fan of Ocho Kandelikas -- its not in English, but its not in Hebrew either. Its a fun counting song!
posted by danielle the bee at 11:58 AM on October 28, 2010

When I was a kid in chorus around 1979, we sang a number of short Hannukah songs which I still remember bits of. I don't know much about any, but perhaps a snippet will help jog someone else's memory.

"In a ring at Hannukah,
dance and sing at Hannukah time
that happy time.

Fun for all at Hannukah,
Big or small at Hannukah time
that happy time.

(bridge)
Spin the driedl, win a present,
eat the pancakes sweet.
Hear the joyful songs
that tell the stories of great victories....."

I also vote for "Light One Candle".
posted by Riverine at 6:19 PM on October 28, 2010

Erran Baron Cohen - My Hanukkah
posted by mhz at 8:03 PM on October 28, 2010

I've always thought Mi Yimalel had a pretty lovely melody.
posted by threeants at 8:23 PM on October 28, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks for the comments! To clarify, I was specifically approached (both this year and in previous years) by the music teacher and asked as the lone Jewish person to give her some songs. And then she has gone and chosen that same one anyway because it is easy and she wouldn't have to think about it anymore. I gather there were some comments last year from parents tried of hearing that one song :) So this year I think she will be more receptive.

Age group of singing kids is 6-8 but the school is pre-K and up. They can handle something long-ish and melodic, it doesn't have to just be the driedl song :)
posted by JoannaC at 10:36 PM on October 28, 2010