A Chanukah Song

[bnewman]

I wrote this song a long time ago, and never got around to posting it — I think I must have gone "I'll post this around Chanukah", and then "Waa, I'm too busy" (or "Waa, I am not recording another take of this tricky, tricky song"), and then "Oops, Chanukah's over, I'll post it next Chanukah" multiple times. So now I'm posting it, and hey, it's even still Chanukah!

The Real Story of Chanukah (mp3) (possibly an overly ambitious title) covers several key points about the holiday:

• The military history comemmorated by Chanukah, and its political fallout, were more problematic that is usually acknowledged.
• Nevertheless, we (Jews) are still here in part because of those events.
• The whole thing about the miraculous conservation of oil is wholly fictional.
• Nevertheless it is an essential feature of the meaning of the holiday.
• (Not least because it helps tie Chanukah to universal themes that everyone else is also celebrating at this time of year.)
• FRIED FOOD

Mainly, I wanted another Chanukah song because Chanukah songs are supposed to be peppy and festive, and my first attempt (Dedication (mp3)), which uses the Chanukah story as more of a psycho-spiritual metaphor, came out far too contemplative and edgy. My goal for "Real Story" was to create a song that is peppy and festive while still acknowledging the problematic facets of the story.

And speaking of fried food, I am planning to host a deep-fried party, again, finally, some time between Chanukah and Christmas.

Comments

[hsifyppah.livejournal.com]

That's a lot to try to do with one song, but you totally do it all. Impressive!

[aryky.livejournal.com]

(Not least because it helps tie Chanukah to universal themes that everyone else is also celebrating at this time of year.)

I flew back to the US from Singapore on Air India this year, and the November edition of their inflight magazine had a cover commemorating Deepavali with stamps from countries around the world in honor of Deepavali. There were two stamps from a joint project from Israel and India celebrating the "Festival of Lights," one of which mentioned Chanukah and the other one Deepavali, which made sense, but there was also an American stamp which was very clearly purely in honor of Chanukah. TSOR suggests that America has not ever issued a Diwali stamp, which I suppose is the reason they used a Chanukah one instead, but it still struck me as a bit confused.

[wayman.livejournal.com]

Some years I've lit candles because it reminds me of celebrations with friends in college. This year I haven't, but last night I did set off the smoke alarm while deep-frying french fries, so ... I'll guess I'll chalk that up as celebrating Hanukkah 2013! :-)