Jewish Stereo Types

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," sung by a 13-year-old Brenda Lee: Video posted by Christmas Music "A Holly Jolly Christmas," sung by Lady Antebellum: Video posted by ChristmasEve12345 "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," sung by Ben Rector (in a slightly less familiar fashion than other covers): Video posted by Ben Rector Although he wrote 175 published songs , these three massive hits--and the over twenty other Christmas songs he wrote--led songwriter Johnny Marks to name his music publishing company "St. Nicholas Music." Despite this very public acknowledgment of the importance of Christmas to his career, Marks was Jewish . Here's a little from the man himself--Ian Whitcomb Interviews Johnny Marks: Video posted by adamgswanson I'm afraid that Mr. Marks was being just a wee bit disingenuous there about the inspiration for the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," since it came from a booklet writt...

I bet you thought this was going to be about "Baby, It's Cold Outside," but no. Not tonight. Tonight we're spotlighting "Santa Baby," written by Philip Springer and Joan Javits, which was controversial enough when it came out in 1953 to be banned by some stations, because--*gasp!*--it was too sexy. (One wonders what those stations would have made of, oh, say, "WAP"...ah, well, autre temps and all that.) Here's a cover by Kelly Clarkson singing "Santa Baby," full dressed and doing nothing untoward to her mike: Video posted by The Kelly Clarkson Vault "Santa Baby" was another of the Christmas classics written to order --in this case, it was a record company wanting a Christmas number for Eartha Kitt, who surprised absolutely no one when she later titled her memoir Confessions of a Sex Kitten . Philip Springer, who had written a few hits by then, and Joan Javits, a Brill Building staff writer, came up with a list for S...

"The Christmas Waltz," by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, sung by She and Him (Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward): Video posted by SheandHimOfficial According to Sammy Cahn, it was written during a hot California summer, because Frank Sinatra called and asked for a Christmas song . Wanting to at least not compete directly with Irving Berlin's "White Christmas," they wrote a waltz. And since Sinatra used it as the B side to "White Christmas," it was just as well. As I have mentioned before (and as is strongly suggested by their names), both Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne (pronounced "Julie Stine") were Jewish, with Styne writing mostly for Broadway, Cahn writing mostly for movies, and both writing SO MANY SONGS, both with each other and with others. Lyricist Sammy Cahn was born on the Lower East Side of New York to Jewish immigrants. He started writing lyrics at about age 16 , which (spoiler alert!) ended well: He won four Oscars for Best Song ...

Here's the thing: In a proper book musical, all the songs have to be part of the story. And yet, if the song is TOO much part of the story, it stays in the show, rather than becoming a classic. And if the New Deal is in your lyrics, let alone the title, your song is really quite solidly embedded your play. So, not a holiday staple. But it is also stuck in my head, thanks to one of those live-on-TV productions 10 days ago, so..."A New Deal for Christmas" from Annie , by Strouse and Charnin: Video posted by BroadwayTVArchive As I've mentioned before, both Charles Strouse (music) and Martin Charnin (lyrics) are Jewish. "Tomorrow" notwithstanding, the show won seven Tony Awards, two Broadway revivals (so far), three movies (not counting sequels), and the aforementioned live-on-TV production, starring Harry Connick, Jr. as Daddy Warbucks, so it's doing pretty well without spawning a Christmas standard. (But I confess to being a bit sorry that FDR'...

Oh, dear. I'm more than a little behind with the Christmas songs this year, I'm afraid. Well, you can always take a look at last year's selections when I don't post (starting from here and going on through), right? It's the internet, everything is here forever! But I do have something new for you today--"new" as in "a song I haven't posted about before," that is. Here's what Billy Joel called "the only Christmas song I ever wrote"--"She's Right On Time": Video posted by Gabriel Braine (Official video over here .) It's one of Joel's more obscure songs, off his 1982 album The Nylon Curtain, but in 2017 he listed it as one of his Top 5 songs on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert . *** As I wrote in my Memorial Day post , Billy Joel is Jewish . His mother was born in Brooklyn to Jewish immigrants from England, and his father was a German Jew that came to the US through Cuba, because of US quotas restr...

We've had this song before , but how could I resist? I mean, Black Friday was more than a week ago and my inbox is still overflowing with "BUY THIS HERE NOW!!!" emails, so... Here's "The Christmas Can-Can (Animated Version)," lyrics and arrangement by Walter Chase, music (mostly) by Jacques Offenbach, sung by Straight No Chaser: Video posted by Straight No Chaser *** Still nothing definitive about Walter Chase (although, as I said last year , it seems more likely than not that he is Jewish. As for the melody, I know that ( the Jewish ) Offenbach titled it "Infernal Galop" in his first full-length operetta, Orpheus in the Underworld , but what I see when I hear that music is neither Video posted by medici.tv (which makes me feel like I really must go see the full thing) nor Video posted by Petittwo , from the 1952 film Moulin Rouge but Video posted by ShopRiteStores What can I say? We are all products of our childhoods. Although j...

"The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" by Mel Tormé and Bob Wells, sung by Paul McCartney: Video by Paul McCartney And sung by Mel Tormé and Judy Garland, including the rarely-recorded opening verse: Video posted by BestArtsJudy "The Christmas Song," was written by Tormé and Wells when then were 19 and 22 respectively. According to Tormé, it was written in about 45 minutes during a heat wave, sparked by an attempt by Wells to cool off by thinking winter thoughts. (This seems to be a not-uncommon trigger for the writing of Christmas songs.) *** This is probably the best known song by Mel Tormé and Bob Wells , both of whom were Jewish . Although Tormé is best known as a jazz singer (he was dubbed "The Velvet Fog") and for his many appearances on TV shows, he wrote or co-wrote more than 300 songs , about half of which he wrote with Wells. In his clearly abundant spare time he managed to write 5 books and to become a licensed a...

I don't think this song needs much of an introduction--here's "White Christmas" by Irving Berlin, sung by Bing Crosby and Martha Mears (who was voice doubling Marjorie Reynolds), in the movie Holiday Inn : Video posted by alpineic1 . (Only the first two and half minutes or so of the video are from the film.) Or, if you prefer, a cover by Bette Midler that includes the rarely-recorded first verse: Video posted by Bette Midler - Topic , provided to YouTube by Sony Music Entertainment The song was written for the aforementioned Bing Crosby/Fred Astaire vehicle Holiday Inn and became an instant classic. Crosby's version of "White Christmas" is the best selling record of all time, * the single selling at least 50 million copies; when all the various covers ( over 500 at current reckoning) are taken into account, the song is estimated to have sold over 150 million copies and there has even been an entire book written about it. All this despite--or pe...

"I'll Be Home for Christmas," by Walter Kent, Kim Gannon, and Buck Ram, sung by Kristin Chenoweth: Video posted by KristinChenowethVEVO And an informal acoustic cover of "I'll by Home for Christmas," sung by Jason and Michael Castro: Video by Jason Castro (Yes, the 'stache is unfortunate.) The song, wistful and haunting, was first recorded in 1943, and became an instant hit, resonating strongly with soldiers at the front during WWII as well as with their families. It still speaks to those who can't be with their loved ones during the holidays. *** As for the writers: A few years back, Wikipedia said that lyricist Kim Gannon was Jewish; currently, however, it says Irish-American. I cannot, in fact, find any source that says he was Jewish, so I think it's safe to say he was not. Buck Ram has co-writing credit on the song, but there's considerable controversy over whether or not he should. He certainly copyrighted a song (origina...

"You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" by Albert Hague and Theodor Geisel, sung by Thurl Ravenscroft: Video posted by horgemlingurinn And here's a cover by Darius Rucker: Video posted by Darius Rucker To quote from Albert Hague's obituary in the The New York Times : "When he played the song he wrote for the Grinch assignment to Theodore Geisel, Mr. Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) exclaimed, 'Any man who slides an octave on the word Grinch gets the job.'" *** Whether you call him Dr. Seuss or Mr. Geisel, the children's book writer/lyricist was not Jewish. (Although he was actively anti-Nazi even prior to the US entering WWII, and produced many anti-Nazi political cartoons.) The composer, however-- Albert Hague -- was Jewish. He was raised Lutheran, because his German Jewish parents felt that their Jewish heritage was a liability (and of course in Germany at that time it most certainly was), but as that provided no shield from the Nazis he and...

"Silver Bells" , by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, was frequently referred to by Livingston as "our annuity." It is sung here by Colbie Callait: Video posted by Rita Spencer And here is the same song as sung by Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell in the movie for which the song was written, The Lemon Drop Kid : Video posted by TCBNS .* The title, by the way, was originally "Tinkle Bells." [I pause while you take that in.] Then Livingston went home and told his wife about their new song and she said (presumably after she finished laughing), "Are you out of your mind? Do you know what the word 'tinkle' means to most people?" They changed the title (and lyrics) to "Silver Bells" forthwith. *** Jay Livingston (born Jacob Levison) and Ray Evans were both born in 1915 and both were Jewish . They met in the University of Pennsylvania and, in the words of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, "began a lifelong collaboration that...

Songwriter Johnny Marks made something of a speciality of Christmas songs--Wikipedia lists 26 Christmas and Christmas-show songs by Marks, and he named his music publishing company St. Nicholas Music . Here are some particularly well-known examples: "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," by Johnny Marks, based on a poem by Robert L. May, as sung by Destiny's Child (you heard me): Video posted by DestinysChildVEVO "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," by Johnny Marks, sung by Cyndi Lauper: Video posted by Mr Subtitled Videos "A Holly Jolly Christmas," by Johnny Marks, sung by Sufjan Stevens: Sufjan Stevens - Holly Jolly Christmas from Asthmatic Kitty Records on Vimeo . *** His affinity for Christmas songs notwithstanding, Johnny Marks was indeed Jewish . In addition to producing a substantial catalogue of much-loved holiday (and some non-holiday!) songs, Marks had a distinguished military career, earning a Bronze Star and four Battle Sta...

Here's a relatively new one--the Phil Spector-influenced "Underneath the Tree," by Kelly Clarkson and Greg Kurstin, sung by Kelly Clarkson: Video from KellyClarksonVEVO [I]n December, 2013, Clarkson told Jay Leno that she waited to do a Christmas album until [Kurstin] was available. She added, "He's Jewish, so he didn't know any of the songs. We were in the studio and I was like 'Rudolph'? No. 'White Christmas'? No. But he's so talented." "I say: 'Mr. Kurstin, aren't you ashamed to not know the songs of your landsmen?'" ( Source: Nate Bloom, Jewish World Review ) *** Kelly Clarkson is not Jewish, but songwriter/musician/record producer Greg Kurstin is . Kurstin started out as a jazz pianist, is a founding member of both Geggy Tah and The Bird and the Bee, and has worked in various capacities with, among others, Beck, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pink, Kylie Minogue, Lily Allen, Sia, and Adele. The list ...

"We Need a Little Christmas" by Jerry Herman, sung by LeAnn Rimes Video from leannrimesofficial I have to say that while I never thought of this song as "country"--it is, after all, from the Broadway musical Mame (No, it is not from "Glee." "Glee" did a very partial cover of it, but it was nonetheless written for and performed in Mame ) --it does seem to fit the genre quite well. Still, no one sings it quite like the original Mame! Here's Angela Lansbury, in the original cast album: Video courtesy of CBEntr and Angela a *ahem* few years later: Video courtesy of James Christian Jr. Every note, every pause, is considered and shaded for maximum effect. It's a masterclass in how to put across a song every time, isn't it? No wonder Jerry Herman famously coached her (secretly, of course, since that sort of thing is Not Done) before her audition, and then snuck into the pit during the audition and accompanied her. (And isn...

Don't get me wrong--I'm not complaining about that! New York snow is only pretty so long as it's falling. So this is meant neither as an order nor a request, but... "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, sung by Gloria Estefan: Video from Gloria Estefan - Topic , "Provided to YouTube by Sony Music Entertainment". Do you know who else has covered this song? ... I'll tell you then: everybody, that's who. Just search for "Let it Snow" on YouTube, you'll see. I mean, really EVERYBODY, including the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. ...Well, in a manner of speaking: Video by jamescovenant . (FYI: The song runs from the beginning until about 1:11; following is an ad for a game by the clever person who put together the video.) And as long as we're looking at a well-covered holiday song by Cahn and Styne, here's another--"The Christmas Waltz," by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, ...

Welp, I just flipped my wall calendar (I'm old-fashioned that way) over to December, which means it must be time for my parade of Jewish winter-holiday-season music. Chanukah songs, yes, and an even larger number of Christmas/generalized-winter-holiday-season songs written by Jews. (And should I run across some Kwanza songs written by Jews, I will very definitely include them!) I've started with this song for the past several years because it makes such a nice segue from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, especially since based on my email inbox, both Black Friday and Cyber Monday have continued just-all-week-long. The song? "The Christmas Can-Can," music by Jacques Offenbach (with a judicious amount of mash-up), lyrics and arrangement by Walter Chase, sung by Straight No Chaser : Video by Straight No Chaser As noted above, Walter Chase ( originally Walter Shilanskas ) wrote the lyrics and arranged the piece. Is he Jewish? Well, in his band member bio , Chase list...