Jews have long been singing Hanukkah songs, including Hanukkah O Hanukkah, I Have a Little Dreidel, and Maoz Tzur. More recent additions to the Hanukkah song list are Tom Lehrer’s (I’m Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica, Peter, Paul and Mary’s Light One Candle, 8 Days (Of Hannukah) by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, and Eight Candles by Yo La Tengo. Daveed Diggs, who won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for his Broadway performance as  Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette in Hamilton, wrote and recorded a Hanukkah song in 2020. Diggs was raised Jewish (his white mother is Jewish while his Black father is not). He was given his name because of the Hebrew pronunciation of David. Diggs recently played the part of Rabbi Marshall Zucker on the  Apple TV+ miniseries Extrapolations. What is the song he added to the canon of Hanukkah songs?

Portrait photoshoot at Worldcon 75, Helsinki, before the Hugo Awards by Henry Söderlund  is licensed under CC BY 4.0  via Wikimedia Commons

A. The song Dreidel Bird, which includes the lyrics “I have a little dreidel bird, dreidel bird/I don’t have to spin it/it’s a dreidel bird.”

B. The song Eight Nights A Week, which includes the lyrics “Hey, I know Hanukkah is the fun one/You got your dreidels, your latkes, and your songs/Unlike Yom Kippur, when you zip up your zipper in atonement from all you done wrong.”

C. The song How Do You Spell Channukkahh, which includes the lyrics “Is it with a C or H?/I am confused/What about those N’s and K’s,/Do you use one or two?”

D. The song Puppy for Hanukkah, which includes the lyrics “You’re everything I ever wanted for/You’re my puppy for Hanukkah/I’mma name you Monica/Nah, probably not, that’s a weird name for a dog.”

E. The song I Am Not Throwin’ Away My Lot, which includes the lyrics “I am not throwin’ away my lot/I am not throwin’ away my lot/Hey yo, I'm just like my Bubby/I'm young, scrappy and chubby/And I’m not throwin’ away my lot. Kuh.”

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