להדליק את האורות של חנוכה

It's a fact. As a general rule I tend to go for the fun, the funny, or the irreverent. But there's a time and place for everything, and for the last night of Chanukah, here's Julie Silver. Even a midwestern goy like me has learned most of the lyrics already, even if only through osmosis, but I've never heard this sung more beautifully.

Chanukah Blessings

Yingle all the way!

Harry Stewart (nee Skarbo) was a songwriter who gained most of his fame in the character of Yogi Yorgesson. That's right... he "played ethnic". Some of his other characters have aged poorly, such as the Japanese Harry Kari, however given that Stewart was a Norwegian lampooning Swedes, I can't quite get myself too worked up over that. (My prejudices are showing, I guess.)

I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas

Bonus song!

Even with considerable delays, I'm going to post 31 Christmas/winter songs, as well as 8 Chanukah songs. And I'll get back to that in just a moment, but first here's a little something extra.

At the House of WO we'll remember 2014 as the Christmas we said goodbye to Dorothy Bell. Diminutive in no dimension except size, she was a sweet, loving daughter of English immigrants... and cross her at your own peril. She wasn't afraid of anything except dementia and living in a nursing home; she lived 96 years and avoided both.

As I've been thinking fondly of her, I've found this Steve Martin classic running through my head. Sing along, won't you?

Grandmother's Song

You got your klezmer in my hip-hop! You got your hip-hop in my klezmer!

It might not be anyone's first guess for "two great tastes that taste great together", but in the hands of Erran Baron Cohen (Sasha's brother) it works, man.

Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah

I hope they pass the audition.

Have you noticed that songs that say they're rockin' so seldom are? This one gets closer, at least. The genre of Beatles-styled Christmas music continues with The Fab Four...

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Ringing and dinging

(Ai yi yi... I have a lot to catch up on here!)

Previously I posted the original Hebrew version of this song, but I know the English version better, having gotten the 45 in Denmark as a kid. It won the 1979 Eurovision song contest, you know.

My geography wasn't deceiving me, no, Israel isn't in Europe. So why are they in the Eurovision Song Contest? Because the Israel Broadcasting Authority is a member of the European Broadcasting Union. (Yes, I know that just pushes the question one step further, but I'm just going to go with it.)

Halleluya (English)

The youngest one in the studio

Once upon a time, sitcoms would suddenly, arbitrarily make the cast have a musical career, absent any explanation. And the Brady Bunch is perhaps the classic example of that.

Although they only did one Christmas episode, they did commit some Christmas music to disc. But why on earth would they pick the kid with an interdental lisp to sing "Frosty the Snowman"?

Frosty the Snowman