In 1996, Atlantic (my label at the time) asked me to record a Christmas song for their compilation CD. Since no one ever does  Hanukkah songs, and their is not much to choose from, I thought I would try my hand at writing one. I came up with, "Jesus Was A Dreidel Spinner". I sent them a rough version, thinking they were going to love it. They didn't. Or, I think they felt it was inappropriate. Was it the Jesus reference, or the Jewish one? I was never quite sure, but I thought it was odd that a label run by the tribe would not want a song about Hanukkah. This has nothing to do with it, but I am just reminding everyone that all the good Christmas songs were written by Jews (White Christmas, Silver Bells, etc).

Anyway, I had to come up with something quick. My friends and producers at the time (Brad and Robin) had just heard this great Xmas song by Robert Earl Keen. I loved it, recorded it, and here it is:

"Merry Christmas from the Family"

I made sure the drummer was drunk before we recorded. By the way, there is a really fun video of it. Warner music took it off of Youtube for whatever reason. What a bummer. I would have posted it here.

On another note: while on tour, I had a lot of time (hours and hours) in a van traveling between cites. On one stretch I was glued to the Youtube app on my Iphone searching for the best and worst. Here was one of my favs. I didn't know front hugs were so arousing. 

"Gimme That Christian Side Hug"

By the way, if you are thinking of cheap but great gifts, you can always go to my store at Jillsobule.com. I'm just saying.

update: Someone just sent me a link to the video of Merry Christmas From the Family.