Holiday Songs
Gelt-Y Pleasures: The Best Hanukkah Songs of Modern Times
While it’s fair to say pop culture contains more Christmas songs than ones about the Festival of Lights, it’s also fair to say Christmas songwriters have seriously hit a wall, as almost all popular carols were penned during the 1700s and 1800s. Not the case for Hanukkah tunesmiths, who have only begun to flourish over the past century. To commemorate the more than 2,000-year anniversary of the nation of Israel’s reclamation of Jerusalem’s second Holy Temple at the start of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire — and that miracle where the oil lasted for eight nights instead the projected one — we present a diverse selection of gems from the holiday’s new musical gestalt. Adam Sandler“The Chanukah Song” I, II, III and IV With his “Chanukah Song” tetralogy (yes, four different ren...
U2’s Bono and The Edge Perform “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” On Irish TV: Watch
During a normal Christmas season, Glen Hansard and a gaggle of other Irish musicians would busk in the street to raise money for Ireland’s homeless population. This year, in order to abide by social distancing guidelines, the fundraiser was turned into an indoor livestream affair, and U2‘s Bono and The Edge showed up to keep the Christmas spirit intact. The duo performed a beautiful acoustic rendition of the Darlene Love staple “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” on Ireland’s Late Late Show. The U2 bandmates were joined on stage by Hansard, Philip Powell, violinist Vivienne Long and the Heyday Choir (via the IIrish Times). U2 released a recorded version of the cover way back in 1987, but seeing it performed in front of shimmering lights and ornate Christmas trees gives it a...
