אַ ניקל פֿאַר זיי, אַ ניקל פֿאַר מיר

[sovay]

Apparently I can no longer re-toast myself a signature half pastrami, half corned beef sandwich from Mamaleh's without spending the rest of the evening singing the same-named hit from a 1917 American Yiddish musical. The Folksbiene never seems to have revived it and if the rest of the score was as catchy, they really should. (I am charmed that the composer clearly found the nickel conceit tempting enough to revisit in a later show, but that line quoted about the First Lady, didn't I just ask the twentieth century to stay where we left it?)

At the other end of the musical spectrum, spatch maintains it is not American-normal to be able to sing the Holst setting of "In the Bleak Midwinter," which until last night I had assumed was just such seasonal wallpaper that I had absorbed it by unavoidable dint of Christmas—it's one of the carols I can't remember learning, unlike others which have identifiable vectors in generally movies, madrigals, or folk LPs. Opinions?

Thanks to lunisolar snapback, Hanukkah like every other holiday this year seems to have sprung up out of nowhere, but we managed to get hold of candles last night and tomorrow will engage in the mitzvah of last-minute cleaning the menorah.

P.S. I fell down a slight rabbit hole of Bruce Adler and now feel I have spent an evening at a Yiddish vaudeville house on the Lower East Side circa 1926.

Comments

[sovay]

I can't sing anything, but I did think of that song as at least adjacent to Christmas. I certainly only ever hear it in December.

Recognition counts for purposes of this unofficial poll! I can't imagine it outside of a Christmas context, either. Huh. I wonder if I could have heard it at the Revels. (This jump of thought brought to you by Sydney Carter's "Lord of the Dance," which properly speaking should be an Easter song, it's a Passion, but John Langstaff made it the cornerstone of the Christmas Revels in 1971 and so I first heard it, twenty years later.)

Happy holiday, though! I hope your lamps burn bright.

Thank you! We need it.

[moon_custafer]

BTW, a question for those who play Whamageddon: Today I overheard a song called "Sing Me ‘Last Christmas’.” How would it fit into the Whamageddon rules? It doesn’t musically quote “Last Chistmas,” it just name-drops it along with “Jingle Bell Rock” and other holiday classics.

[sovay]

It doesn’t musically quote “Last Chistmas,” it just name-drops it along with “Jingle Bell Rock” and other holiday classics.

I still can't recognize "Last Christmas," but I suspect it shouldn't count if the song itself isn't even partly heard.

[ethelmay]

According to the Whamageddon article on Wikipedia, hearing even a cover of "Last Christmas" doesn't count. Has to be Wham. (I don't know the song myself and am always forgetting what Whamageddon is and having to look it up again. The Little Drummer Boy [spit] is the December game I play. This year I have only heard an instrumental version thus far.)