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      by Ben Bresky
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      The Israel Beat blog is a place for poetry submission, concert announcemnets, upcoming shows and musings on Jewish music. The Israel Beat Jewish Music Podcast brings you live in-studio performances with up and coming Israeli musicians as well as interviews with the stars of the Jewish music world. Plus your music requests and the free CD give-away air live on the show. Past interviews have included Matisyahu, Avraham Fried, and Miri Ben-Ari. The Beat with Ben Bresky broadcasts live every Sunday from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Israel time on Arutz Sheva - Israel National Radio. For more info email bbresky@israelnationalradio.com.

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      Cheshvan 12, 5769, 11/10/2008

      Cool Chanukah Songs - Atom and his Package


      In my new series I hope to divulge some of the more unusual and funky Chanukah songs I have discovered over the years.

      Adam Goren is a Jewish American performer who has released many solo albums under the name Atom and his Package. Goren plays guitar, sings and backs himself up with a drum machine and synthesizer. With fast buzzing guitars, the music sounds like punk rock but the vocals and attitude makes him closer to Weird Al Yankovic or They Might Be Giants. Most of the songs are quirky and silly.

      On his 1999 album he has a sing-songy track called What We Do On Christmas. I present the lyrics here as a public service.

      What We Do on Christmas
      Atom and His Package
      1999 No Idea Records

      You know those right wing crazy people talk about how there’s a Jewish conspiracy and how the Jews run the media and they have all the money and they pretty much dominate the world. No? Well, I’ve heard of it, and you know, well that would pretty much leave one day of the year when no one else is around to have a whole day of planning of world domination. That’s Christmas. Merry Christmas buddies.

      It’s Christmas Eve and you know why I’m hardly sleeping
      There are no presents waiting for me on the floor
      It’s the one day of the year when I use what my super Jewish powers are for
      Introduced to the network at my bar mitzvah
      Got my code ring number its 16761
      While your sitting around the tree in that knock off menorah
      Your idol, we want justice is done

      Princess Di
      We killed her
      El Nino we made it
      Reggie White is stupid
      Billy Joel lets trade him

      Let the neo-Nazis know that we’re part of the conspiracy
      If we’re as strong as they think you’d think they’d be nicer to me
      You’re still mad about what happened to your pal Jesus
      Well if he didn’t die for your sins you’d be going to hell with the rest of us

      Wouldn’t you like to know
      What we do
      What we do
      What we do
      On Christmas

      You think we’re sitting polishing our horns
      Or making soup with the blood of Christian born
      You think I’m being rude
      We’re at a movie eating Chinese food

      This is the disclaimer.
      My name is Adam.
      I’m a Jewish boy.
      I’m very neurotic that people are going to get mad at me.
      I like Jews.
      I like Christian people.
      There should be no problem.
      It’s not that funny.


      ---

      Atom's other Jewish oriented song is called The Palestinians are Not the Same as the Rebel Alliance. It blasts American liberals that blindly defend anti-Israel terrorist groups because they think its trendy.  

      In the liner notes he says that "surely there are some people who blindly defend the Israeli side as well, but these are not the people who I come into contact with at shows... It’s disturbing how they trivialize things to Star Wars-esque proportions."

      I present the lyrics, slightly edited, as a public service.

      The Palestinians Are Not the Same as the Rebel Alliance
      Atom and His Package
      2003 Hopeless Records

      You're so Leftist
      You're so pro-peace
      You hate the death penalty
      But love it in the Middle East
      Don't know the facts
      Just catch phrase words
      No different than the Nazi boneheads
      The other side just got to you first

      Critical thinking
      No thanks not at all
      Admit it you just like posters
      Of men with machine guns up on your wall

      Makes you feel good
      Makes you feel right
      Simplified complexity
      It's easy to cheer when it's black and white

      I'm impressed that you're so bad
      I'm impressed with your defiance (Hello, I am sarcastic)
      You do know the Palestinians are not the same thing
      As the Rebel Alliance

      Say stupid things like
      "The United States is the only terrorist nation"
      Ha ha nice education
      Add inane hip arguments
      When it comes your turn
      All the while weakening and invalidating
      Legit concerns

      Supposed to be critical
      Supposed to be cynical
      Blind loyalty
      Dumb jocky political

      For more info you can visit his web site at http://www.atomandhispackage.com. Coming up in my future blogs I will discuss more crazy Chanukah oriented songs by Yerachmiel Zeigler, Damon and Naomi,  Subliminal, Don McLean and more. If you have any suggestions, feel free to email me at bbresky@israelnationalradio.com