Hanuka Dance - Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie's Hanukah Songs

December, 2016

Author: Eliahu Adelman

Photo of Woody and Marjorie from the Woody Guthrie Foundation Archives

Over the generations Hanukah has generated a substantial repertoire of songs, some of which have attained an almost universal status, even among non-Jews. At the same time, the need of each generation to express itself in its particular contemporary literary and musical taste has engendered new songs. These new songs about Hanukah represent the individual reflections by poets and singers on the holiday's themes and the stories associated with it. These include, to name only a few, songs by Morris Rosenfeld, Debbie Friedman, Adam Sandler,  The Maccabeats and many additional artists. In honor of the forthcoming Hanukah celebration we will discuss a few songs written by Woody Guthrie, America's troubadour of the downtrodden and the oppressed.

Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) was one of the United States' great and prolific folk singers. Many of his songs dealt with the plight of the worker, the importance of unionization, social solidarity and resistance against tyranny in its many forms. His influence on American music is incalculable, as new generations of musicians continue to adapt and be inspired by his work.

It was through his close connection to the poet and socialist Greenblatt that Guthrie became more acquainted with Judaism. They would share songs and Woody would study Jewish texts and history. In the late 1940s Guthrie wrote a handful of Hanukah-related songs, some for the local Jewish community and some for his children. The themes of the songs range from joyous children's songs, without much content connected to the actual holiday (Hanuka Dance, Hanuka Gelt, Honeyky Hanukah), to songs that express the rituals and history of Hanukah (Hanuka Bell, The Many and the Few, Happy Joyous Hanuka -- the latter is structured as a cumulative song similar to the Passover Seder songs Had gadya and Ehad mi yode’a) to a song that has a certain Christian feeling to it (Hanuka Tree).

Within his vast oeuvre there are a handful of songs with Jewish themes, and a few of them are specifically related to Hanukah. Guthrie himself was not Jewish; however his second wife, Marjorie Mazia Greenblatt, and their four children, including famous folk-singer Arlo Guthrie, were. Guthrie met Marjorie in 1942 when she was performing a dance based on one of his songs. Their first daughter Cathy Ann was born in 1943 and they were married from 1945 until 1953. In 1942 the couple moved to Coney Island, across the street from Marjorie's mother, Aliza Greenblatt, a well-respected Yiddish poet and songwriter in her own right.

Although no direct connection has been documented, a similarity can be found between the themes that arise in most of Guthrie's Hanukah songs and a Yiddish Hanukah poem written by Greenblatt that was published during the same period. This poem, Hanukah, was released in her 1947 collection of children's poems and songs Ikh Zing, and can point towards a possible inspiration and template for Guthrie's songs. This five verse poem (one of the few holiday songs in the book published without music), like the themes interspersed between Guthrie's Hanukah themed texts, combines the telling of part of the holiday story -- in this case the story of Hannah and her seven sons – with verses on family rituals, eating Hanukah food, and a general sense of happiness and togetherness.

                G Tippy tap toe! Happy Hanuka! D ‘Round you go! My little latke! G On your toes! Happy Hanuka! A D And around and around you go! G Clap your hands! Happy Hanuka! D Clap clap hands! My little strudel! G On your toes! Happy Hanuka! A D And around and around you go! G Jump real high! Happy Hanuka! D Jump jump high! My little fruitycake! G On your toes! Happy Hanuka! A D And around and around you go! G Run real fast! Happy Hanukkah! D Runny run run! My little sugar pie! G On your toes! Happy Hanuka! A D And around and around you go! G Hop hop hop! Happy Hanukkah! D Hoppity hop! My little rabbit! G On your toes! Happy Hanuka! A D And around and around you go! G Skippy skip skip! Happy Hanukkah! D Skippity skip! My little honeybun! G On your toes! Happy Hanuka! A D And around and around you go!