The Chanukah Party Lyrics > Caroline, or Change

THE GELLMANS & MR. STOPNICK
Chanukah or Chanukah,
oh Dreydl and Menorah!
We celebrate it even though
it isn?t in the Torah!
Talmud barely mentions it,
the way they kept their candle lit;
sages in their colloquies
say bupkes bout the Maccabees
and how with very little fuss
they routed King Antiochus.
Antiochus! Pooh!
Who cares what all the sages say?
We celebreate it anyway!
Chanukah oh Chanukah,
from Astrakhan to Panama,
all along that isthmus,
we?re celebrating Chanukah,
especially in America!

GRANDMA GELLMAN
A whole week more than Christmas!

ROSE
You may think it?s December,
but Noah, dear, remember,
tonight is Kislev Twenty-Five!

THE ADULT GELLMANS & MR. STOPNICK
And every single Jew alive,
Oy Noahleh, oy bubaleh,
oy vontzeleh oy pishkeleh,
sings happy happy Chanukah,
especially in America!
American American God shed His grace on thee,
where every Jew?s a Maccabee
and crown?d thy good with brotherhood?
and bade our blessings multiply:

NOAH
Boruch ata adonai eloheinu melech ha?olam
asher kidshanu b?mitzvotav vitzivanoo
l?hadlich ner shel Chanukah.

THE ADULT GELLMANS & MR. STOPNICK
Mi kamocha ba-eilim Adonai?
Mi kamocha ne-e-dar ba-ko-desh?
No-ra t?hilot o-se fe-le,
No-ra t?hilot o-se fe-le.
Omayn.

CAROLINE
Give that liver salad a toss
and watch the goose don?t let it dry.
Spoon them jars of applesauce
and put them pancakes in the fry!
If you don?t fry ?em right away
they start turning grey.

NOAH
Know why they?re fried in chicken fat?

EMMIE
To crisp ?em up.

CAROLINE
Noah, scat!
You?s bothering us, you?s underfoot.

NOAH
To symbolize the Temple Oil.

CAROLINE
Dot, don?t let the gravy boil!
Noah, scoot, I got no use
for you tonight.

EMMIE
How about the goose?
Does that mean something?

NOAH
That?s just food.

ROSE
Noah, out! It?s very rude
to bother people when they?re busy.
You aren?t needed in here. Is he?

CAROLINE
No he ain?t.

ROSE
Go on, don?t pout.
Go on out, and see our friends, he
never listens!

MR. STOPNICK
The South is in a mighty frenzy!

ROSE
Time to bring the latkes out!
Noah tell them food is coming.

MR. STOPNICK
Wait and see!
The old world?s ending!
Negroes marching!
Change is coming!
Down with the filthy capitalist chazzerim!

ROSE
Come and visit with Grandpa Stopnick, all the way from New York City!

MR. STOPNICK
Just like we predicted back in the 30s,
all the negroes got to do now
is stop this nonsense about nonviolence!

GRANDMA & GRANDPA GELLMAN
Scary scary such a tsimmes,
negroes in Louisiana
aren?t like in Mississippi,
not as mad as Alabama.
Anyway is this the way
to talk on Erev Chanukah?
Let?s not dwell on ugly things!
Let?s thank God for the joys He brings!
Watch the colored candles melt!
Spin the dreydl for Chanukah Gelt!
Let?s be merry, let?s be funny!

GRANDMA GELLMAN
Noah, look!

GRANDPA GELLMAN
It?s chocolate money!

GRANDMA AND GRANDPA GELLMAN
Let?s wish our negro neighbors well!

MR. STOPNICK
And may Bull Connor roast in hell!

THE GELLMANS AND MR. STOPNICK
Bull Connor! Pooh!

GRANDMA & GRANDPA GELLMAN
But tonight let?s just forget!

GRANDMA GELLMAN
Stuart! Play your clarinet!

Last Update: June, 10th 2013