Every December, the winter holidays are on almost everyone’s mind, and along with this comes the seemingly endless number of Christmas songs. For those that celebrate Hanukkah, rather than putting on songs like Deck the Halls or All I Want For Christmas is You, we’re listening to Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah songs and the annual Hanukkah parodies. I’m not exactly sure how this tradition started, but each year I’m just as eager as anyone to see what will be parodied. For now, I’m going to look back on the six “classic” Hanukkah parodies, all released from 2008-2012. After 2013, the parodies were almost all created by the same two groups, so that’s where I decided to make the divide between the eras. With that said, presented below are my thoughts on the six classic Hanukkah parodies.

“Hanukkah Hey Ya!” by Eric Schwartz  |  6/10

https://youtu.be/3aDDmt-8ZSM

This was the earliest Hanukkah parody I could find on YouTube, dating back to 2008. Though, according to the description of the video, it was made in 2003. The song is a parody of Outkast’s “Hey Ya!”, and it is pretty much just the same song with altered lyrics. This is a large detriment to the song, as it leaves it lacking in creativity, though I can’t deny the excellent choice of song to parody. On the other hand, according to the description, the parody wasn’t even made by someone who celebrates Hanukkah, which would explain some of the strange references in the lyrics. On top of this, the song features a flash animation that leaves no doubt of the year the parody was made, and vocals that could be improved, though are not outright terrible. All of these factors add up to a simply mediocre experience overall.

“Candlelight” by The Maccabeats  |  10/10

https://youtu.be/qSJCSR4MuhU 

When I think of Hanukkah parodies, this is typically the first one I think of, and with good reason. I grew up listening to this parody of Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite”, and I continue to go back to it year after year when Hanukkah rolls around. From the lyrics blending the history of Hanukkah with modern-day celebration, to the hilarious acting-out of said history, to the over-the-top slow motion used on a latke being flipped and dreidels being spun, to the the surprisingly good editing during the splitscreen portions, to the fantastic a cappella composition, to the astronaut (for some for reason), this is truly the best of the best when it comes to Hanukkah parodies. If you ask me, it is what led to the other parodies, which all attempted to recreate its spark with varying levels of success. I would listen to this song over “Dynamite” any day, even when it’s nowhere near Hanukkah. This is truly a perfect parody; there is nothing I would change about it.

“I Gotta Feeling Hanukkah” by The Fountainheads  |  2/10

https://youtu.be/PQ6RCl0lie0

Somehow I had never listened to this song prior to writing this article, despite it coming out just a week after “Candlelight”. After finally listening to it, I can say with confidence that I consider it a very good thing that I hadn’t listened to it before. I know it can’t be true based on how close together the videos came out, but this just feels like a ripoff of “Candlelight”. There is almost nothing redeeming I can say about this parody. There is exactly one good singer, various parts of the music video range from not good to uncomfortably terrible, and I have no idea why they chose this song to parody. I know the Fountainheads can do better, I listen to “Dip Your Apple” every Rosh Hashanah with great joy. This is just not something I would recommend to anyone.

“Chanukah Rock of Ages” by Aishdotcom  |  7/10

https://youtu.be/KyKWUpSMegE 

This parody is actually a mashup of eight parodies of hit songs from throughout history. The song choices are fine, but they aren’t mashed together very well a lot of the time. On top of awkward transitions, the songs almost all feel like separate incomplete ideas just put together. This could easily have been eight individual parodies and would have been better, though still not great. In terms of the music video, it is mostly fine. The editing is pretty good for 2011, and a lot of the dancing is fairly well done. However, the main singer looks a bit uncannily energetic at times and not all of the dancing is good. The singing is solid, though, and I had an overall positive experience. It’s a fine parody, but just suffers from being a mixed bag of ideas that isn’t very well-put together.

“Eight Nights” by StandFour  |  8/10

https://youtu.be/WAbTDHblxFM 

“StandFour” is really just four members of The Maccabeats going solo for a parody mashup. The mashup includes Fun’s “Some Nights”, Kesha’s “Die Young”, and One Direction’s “Live While We’re Young”. In some ways, I actually prefer having only four of them. It makes it feel like they each have a really important role in the song, especially considering it’s a cappella. However, that’s really the only thing this parody has over The Maccabeats as a complete group. The editing of the music video is not as good, with there being some very close-up shots that I really can’t understand and the use of choppy splitscreen while the members are in the same location. In addition, one of the vocalists is not as great as the others, which was not nearly as noticeable in the larger group. The parody is still solid though, and the mashup is very well executed, which is in stark contrast to the previous parody I listened to, and the lyrics are pretty great, especially the one about “making random Jewish references in a Hanukkah song”. This parody is still great, I’m just left missing the other members.

“Rolling in the Deep Chanukah” by Soularashs  |  5/10

https://youtu.be/J9d2fN1fPSw 

This is a parody of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”. Out of all of the parodies on this list, this is the one where I’m most confused by the song choice. “Rolling in the Deep” is a fairly bitter song, which does not fit with the tone of the parody being simply “Happy Hanukkah”. Aside from that, some of the editing choices are very peculiar, with one shot that is a bit too close that keeps recurring throughout the video. I also think the lyrics could use some work (How do you spin a dreidel “to the beat”?) However, the singing is pretty consistently good and a lot of the music video is not terrible. Oh, and there’s a guitar solo midway through the song that I thoroughly enjoyed.

This concludes my reviews of the six classic Hanukkah parodies. I would recommend all of the ones I rated above a 6 if you’re in the mood for a throwback to the early 2010s that involves Hanukkah and pop music. Pretty much all of the parodies released by The Maccabeats and Six13 after this point are 7s and 8s as well, so I would recommend those as well. Have a happy holiday, regardless of what you’re celebrating!