WOODY GUTHRIE is a household name, associated by many U.S. families with folk music, blues ballads, and protest songs. But Guthrie (1912–1967) wrote lyrics, too — Jewish lyrics.
Today, those lyrics have been set to music by the Jewish Klezmer group The Klezmatics, and they also provide the language of PJ Library selection, Honeyky Hanukkah.
Honeyky Hanukkah is being given to some PJ Library readers in the Bagels & Lox (2 to 3 Years) age group — others in the age group may instead receive the festive Biscuit’s Hanukkah, a fun-filled story written by Alyssa Satin Capucilli and illustrated by Pat Schories.
HONEYKY HANUKKAH
As reported by WoodyGuthrie.org, the official artist website, Guthrie’s Jewish lyrics can be “raced to the unusual collaborative relationship he had with his mother-in-law, Aliza Greenblatt, a prominent Yiddish poet who lived across from Guthrie and his family in Brooklyn in the 1940s.”
Years later, Guthrie’s daughter, Nora Guthrie, who also serves director of the Woody Guthrie Archives, decided to “bring her father’s Jewish songs to light,” according to the website. She enlisted The Klezmatics to set the lyrics to music. The songs were released on the album, Happy Joyous Hanukkah.
The November Jewish children’s book selection Honeyky Hanukkah features lyrics from that collection of Guthrie’s writing. It is illustrated by Dave Horowitz, who also wrote and illustrated the popular Challah Toast (3 to 4 Years) age group selection, Five Little Gefiltes.
LISTEN TO THE KLEZMATICS
As a supplemental to this month’s
Honeyky Hanukkah reading, give a listen The Klezmatics musical take on Guthrie’s lyrics. We think you'll love it almost ast much as the book!
November 13, 2014