Rant #2,491: Hanukah Rocks Snoopy's Christmas

Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate this holiday.

We had a nice, quiet celebration, simply exchanging gifts and lighting our brand new menorah.

It was good, and perfect for our family at this point in time.

As for gifts, we did exchange them, and needless to say, I will be going to my local record store, once again, to dig for buried treasure.

Thanks to my family for all of that.

But even if I find some great records to add to my collection, as far as the holidays, they simply cannot top the two holiday-themed records that I am going to talk about here today.

I have loved these records for decades, and with both Hanukkah (or Hanukah or Chanukah--I still don't know if any or all are correct) and Christmas converging upon each other this year, it is a good time to review each of them, and explain why I enjoy them so much.

Honestly, there really aren't that many "modern" Hanukkah songs that are out there and popular during this time of season. Acts like Peter, Paul and Mary and the Barenaked Ladies have recorded Hanukkah songs, and many other acts have too, but you simply don't hear very many of them being played on the radio--with the exception of "The Hanukkah Song" by Adam Sandler, which has absolutely nothing to do with the holiday other than its name.

So if you want a real "modern" Hanukkah song--and that is what I wanted--I found one back in 1981 with Gefilte Joe and the Fish's "Hanukah Rocks."

Gefilte Joe and the Fish is actually a fictitious band, comprised of some of the people who started the fabled Rhino Records label. They, too, were not hearing modern Hanukkah songs anywhere, and then being a novelty record label, they put this song out, along with three other Jewish-parody songs, on a blue colored, Jewish star-shaped extended play record.

While it wasn't really a huge seller, I had heard about it and actually heard it way back when, had it on a few Rhino label compilations, but always wanted to actually own it--and I found it at my local record store within the past year. I gobbled it up, and yes, I found that it is all it is cracked up to be.

Yes, it is sophomoric, it is full of stereotypical Jewish dialect and jokes, but with all of that, it plays perfectly into the holiday. The other songs on the EP are even more sophomoric and stereotypical, but Jews and society in general need "Hanukah Rocks," because we have simply forgotten how to laugh at ourselves.

You can listen to it yourself at https://youtu.be/SDXjzYxg0Rk

The Royal Guardsmen were a pretty good rock act that got themselves completely pigeon-holed--and probably made a ton of money for their record label--by recording songs featuring the Peanuts character Snoopy. Way back in the mid-1960s, the Peanuts comic strip was becoming extremely popular with the then rising counterculture, and while the Royal Guardsmen's handing of the character was purely G-rated bubblegum, it brought Snoopy to an entirely new audience, little kids who knew nothing about "Peanuts" or Charles Schulz.

"Snoopy Vs. the Red Baron" (#2, 1966) and "The Return of the Red Baron" (#15, 1967) were huge sellers on the Laurie record label, and the belief was that a Snoopy Christmas record would also sell really well.

So in late 1967, "Snoopy's Christmas" roared onto Billboard's Christmas chart--holiday singles generally did not make the Hot 100 and were relegated to this separate chart--and it reached No. 1 on the holiday chart that year. It was such a popular song that it also made the Christmas chart in 1968 and 1969.

In New York, the song got immense airplay on WABC, and if it could have been included in the Hot 100 chart, the song probably would have made #1.

It made my personal Top Holiday Songs chart, and remains there more than 50 years later. is a catchy song, continuing the "epic" meeting of Snoopy and the Red Baron that was discussed in the first two hit singles, continuing that story, but doing so in the holiday spirit.

For me, when I hear that song on the radio, I know it is the holiday season. You can listen to it yourself at https://youtu.be/2sNLIs7G63s

I have to say that there is a close second on my Christmas song list, and that is "Riu Chiu" by the Monkees, which was finally included on a single this year on the Record Store Day release from the act on Rhino.

It is not really a Christmas song, but Peter, Micky, Mike and Davy sung it to perfection on their show's Christmas episode--which guest starred Butch Patrick, Eddie on "The Munsters"--and is a delightful song whether it is a Christmas song or not. Having it on that episode--and not having it officially released until decades later--added to the allure of the tune, which you can listen to at https://youtu.be/riG85oA6Wy4

So there you have it, my favorite holiday songs of all-time. I am sure that you have your own--what are they, and why are they your favorites?

Let's play and listen to them all during this wonderful holiday season!