Songoftheday 12/22/19 - I wrote a song for all those nice little Jewish kids who don't get to hear any Chanukah songs Here we go!
from the album What The Hell Happened To Me? (1996)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #10 (one week)
Weeks in the Hot 100 Airplay top-40: 2
Today's special song of the day comes from comedian Adam Sandler, who got his big break when he was hired as a writer then quickly became a cast member on the long-running sketch show Saturday Night Live in 1990. His popularity on the show grew exponentially, to the point that he released his debut comedy album They're All Gonna Laugh At You in 1993, which went on to sell over two million copies and appear on Billboard magazine's Top 200 Albums sales chart. Three years later, Sandler returned with his sophomore effort, What The Hell Happened To Me?, which included an expanded version of a song he originally debuted on the show in 1994. Naming off celebrity Jewish people, the simplistic tune was both hilarious and in a way empowering to those overwhelmed by the MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! brigade. Radio stations even got on board playing the song like a holiday track...
"The Chanukah Song" received enough airplay on mainstream pop stations to go to the top ten on the Hot 100 Airplay chart; however since it was not released commerically to buy as a "single", it was unable to appear on Billboard's official Hot 100 pop chart. The song also went to #28 on Billboard's new Adult Top-40 radio format chart in the early days of 1996. The They're All Going To Laugh At You album ended up selling over two million and peaking at #18.
Two years later Sandler returned with another album, What's Your Name, which was entirely comedy songs and no stand-up material. Surprisingly, even though it sold over a half million copies no song from it hit the radio. That changed with his next album in 1999, Stan and Judy's Kid, which tried to recreate the Chanukah magic with "The Thanksgiving Song", which slipped in to the Adult Top-40 chart at #40, while the album was his highest-charting set at #16. After a five year break, Adam was back with Shhh...Don't Tell, which actually spun off a dance hit, placing the song "Secret" to #19 on Billboard's Dance Club Play list. His most recent release was in March of 2019 with the audio of his Netflix stand-up special 100% Fresh.
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This is the clip from SNL where Adam debuted his "Chanukah Song"...
Adam reprised the song a number of times; here he is hosting SNL with version #3...
His most recent version was part 4 in 2015...
Happy Chanukah, and will be back next year...
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