5 of mine and yours Famous Christmas Songs Written by Jewish Songwriters

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. “White Christmas” - While there are more than five Christmas carols written by Jewish songwriters, I thought I’d just cover my favorites, starting with not only the most famous Christmas song written in modern times, but according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the best-selling single of all-time.Written by: Irving Berlin in 1940


2. “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”Written by: Johnny Marks in 1949Based on: a poem/story penned by Marks’ brother-in-law, who invented RudolphMade famous by: Gene Autry, whose recording sold over 2 million copies in the first year alone Famous Rudolph mondegreen: “Olive, the other reindeer” (see our post on mondegreens if you don’t know what they are)Cool Johnny Marks fact: He is the great-uncle of economist Steven Levitt, co-author of one of my favorite books of all time,


4. “Silver Bells”Written by: Jay Livingston and Ray Evans in 1951Actually written by: Jacob Harold Levison and Raymond Bernard Evans (real names)Introduced by: Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell in the movie The Lemon Drop KidMade Famous by: Bing Crosby and Carol Richards Cool “Silver Bells” fact: the song was inspired by the silver bells of the Salvation Army bell ringers, thus making it one of the few Christmas carols about the city, as opposed to the usual rural countryside setting

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/10490


And I love the rest too!

[question everything]

1. Just watched the movie "Holiday Inn" last night

and all the songs were written by Irving Berlin.

[Sebastian Doyle]

2. "Christmas With The Devil" by Spinal Tap

Christopher Guest (Nigel) and Harry Shearer (Derek) are Jewish.

[Donnachaidh]

3. the 12 Days of Christmas by Allan Sherman

I actually watched my son perform this at an open mike at his high school!

"And a japanese transistor radi-oooooo" "It's a Nakashuma"

[jobycom]

4. They are all about the secular side of Christmas.

They are all about how Christmas looks and feels or the traditions around the holiday, and not about the religious/nativity side of Christmas. I just think that's interesting in the context of the Fundamentalists and their ideas about the "War on Christmas" trying to subvert the message of Christmas. Apparently, the Fundies are the ones subverting the traditional ideas of Christmas by trying to limit it to a narrow religious audience.

Just my thoughts. Show me a recipe for eggnog, and I'll see a political message in it.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

5. with or without alcohol?

Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
6 large eggs, plus 2 yolks
1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup brandy, bourbon, or dark rum (see Notes)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks
Additional grated nutmeg for garnish
Preparation:
Combine eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a heavy 3- or 4-quart pan, whisking until well-combined. Continue whisking while pouring milk in a slow, steady stream until completely incorporated. Turn on burner to lowest possible heat setting. Place pan on burner and stir mixture continuously until an instant-read thermometer reaches 160 degrees F. and the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Be patient. This should take about 25 to 30 minutes.

Strain mixture through a fine sieve into a large bowl to remove any accidental small cooked bits of egg. Add brandy, bourbon, or dark rum, plus vanilla extract and nutmeg. Stir to combine. Pour into a glass pitcher, decanter, or container and cover with a lid or plastic wrap. Refrigerate this egg custard mixture to chill at least 4 hours or up to 3 days before finishing.

When ready to serve, pour heavy cream into a bowl and whip until it forms soft peaks. Fold whipped cream into cold custard mixture until combined.

Serve in chilled cups or glasses and garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg.

Cooked Non-alcoholic Eggnog Recipe

Yield: 12 to 16 eggnog servings

Notes: If you'd like a more potent eggnog and want to add more alcohol, you'll need to make a minor adjustment to maintain consistency. Simply increase the liquor amount to 1 cup and the heavy cream to 3/4 cup.

[timtom]

11. Jack Benny

who was Jewish, always did a Christmas radio show.

I used to think he was (as so many tried to do back then) disguise the fact that he was Jewish.

Turns out, his family (in Waukegan, IL) traditionally celebrated Christmas while remaining faithful Jews. On the radio show, he would often have Dennis Day sing a medley of Christmas Carols. They were not the secular ones, either.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[aquart]

9. We really did do that, Tom. More or less.

Every retailer-hanging-on-by-a-thread which is EVERY retailer does that on Christmas Eve after the store closes, and the last desperate husband has banged on the locked door for help and gone his way with a presentable gift because we'd let him in...

WE would take our piles of money home, order lavish amounts of Chinese food, and count...is it enough to pay our artists, rent, taxes, all our bills? Did we work 60-80 hours a week for enough to look forward to next year? Did we? Will we survive? And if the answer was yes, Damn straight Jesus got a thank you!

It's a long haul to Christmas. Trolling the gift and craft shows in summer, placing the orders...plenty of praying then. And as shipments began to arrive in September and October, it was always "I ordered too much! Nobody will buy anything! We'll be stuck with all of it and no way to pay!" which gradually gave way in December to "Omigod, I didn't order enough, I have to spend the night on the phone, maybe they have something, anything they can send us....the store will be empty and people will come and go away with nothing because I didn't buy enough!"

Retailers are always praying, begging to make it thru the next month. Hyacinth lasted twenty years and it was our customers, at the last, coming every day and begging us to stay. Or open in THEIR city.

In fact, every employee was a customer who refused to leave. We'd wear store jewelry for the Christmas rush. I sold earrings out of my ears and necklaces off my neck. We still run into people who remember us. Sometimes they ask what's good to buy in whatever place we happen to encounter each other. I was called over by a cop at a Times Square demonstration once. She wanted me to know how happy she was with the custom engagement ring her fiance ordered thru us.

Glad as I am to be out of retailing in this climate, I miss it all.

Think of that, next time you're inclined to be glib about what the Christmas season means to merchants. Or Jews.

[bobd0]

7. I got to wondering if there are any Hanukkah songs by Gentiles

I found this:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fm20081218r1.html

Not surprisingly, there isn't much in the way of vice versa. The only gentile I can find who wrote a Hanukkah song was Woody Guthrie, who, it should be noted, composed his populist masterpiece, "This Land is Your Land," as an antidote to Berlin's stridently patriotic "God Bless America."

[tomreedtoon]

10. Ever read the credits of "The Andy Griffith Show"?

Most of those sitcoms about hicks, like The Andy Griffith Show, have credits with lots of Jewish names. Like...Everett Greenbaum, Ben Gershman, Leo Solomon, Aaron Rubin, Seaman Jacobs. I don't know which, if any, of these guys are Jewish, but I like the idea of homegrown Baptist homilies being penned by Jews.

In fact, about the only sitcom of the 60's that had any tribute to Jews on the air was The Dick Van Dyke Show, and the star of that one was a Goy.

ON EDIT: Had to change the carats to square brackets for the italics. When are they going to get a WYSIWIG editor for posts on DU?