From the Archives: Why Jews Wrote Your Favorite Christmas Songs
Breaking History10 Des 2025

From the Archives: Why Jews Wrote Your Favorite Christmas Songs

Did you know the soundtrack of Americans’ Christmas was written largely by . . . Jews? Most of the composers behind the holiday canon were the children of immigrants who fled pogroms and conscription in Russia and Eastern Europe between 1880 and 1920. Sammy Cahn, Frank Sinatra’s go-to lyricist, gave us “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” Mel Tormé, son of a Belarusian refugee, wrote “The Christmas Song”) (a.k.a. “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”). Frank Loesser—whose family escaped the Kaiser’s draft—penned the mischievous “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” And Johnny Marks, responsible for “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” was also one of the chosen few. Towering above them all is Irving Berlin, whose “White Christmas” remains one of the biggest-selling singles in American history. Berlin’s own childhood began with a pogrom and escape from Siberia before landing in New York in 1893. In a replay of this classic Breaking History episode, Eli Lake digs into how a generation of Jewish immigrants ended up shaping the very sound of America’s most beloved holiday. CREDITS Producer Greg Collard Executive Producer Alex Miller Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(56)

Why the Future of Education Won’t Come from the Ivy League

Why the Future of Education Won’t Come from the Ivy League

Peter Berkowitz returns to the show to trace the slow collapse of liberal education in America, all in his new book, Reclaiming Liberal Education in America. In this episode, he and Eli Lake walk thro...

6 Aug 1h 2min

The Slow Death of Journalism, with Matt Taibbi

The Slow Death of Journalism, with Matt Taibbi

Matt Taibbi has spent the better part of a decade documenting one of the most underreported stories in American media: how the federal government built a shadow infrastructure to shape what people cou...

23 Jul 51min

How the Democratic Socialists Conquered New York City

How the Democratic Socialists Conquered New York City

Back in October, we traced the founding of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in our episode “Beautiful Losers: Mamdani & the End of Socialism’s Losing Streak.” Now, with Zohran Mamdani’s alli...

30 Jun 1h

Iran’s Favourite Washington Pundit

Iran’s Favourite Washington Pundit

Journalist Jay Solomon is back on the show this week to discuss his latest explosive investigation into Trita Parsi, the Iranian-born, Swedish-raised lobbyist who spent 20 years at the center of Washi...

12 Jun 48min

Who Owns the Declaration of Independence?

Who Owns the Declaration of Independence?

As America approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, a quiet war is being waged over what the Declaration of Independence really means — with some on the new right dismissing it as globalist f...

27 Mai 1h 18min

A New Series From The Free Press | The Lindbergh Conspiracies

A New Series From The Free Press | The Lindbergh Conspiracies

Hi Breaking History listeners! My colleague Joe Nocera has launched a six part series about the Lindbergh kidnapping. Enjoy episode one here and then head on over to The Lindbergh Conspiracies feed fo...

19 Mai 43min

What the Founders Really Meant to Say

What the Founders Really Meant to Say

Robert Parkinson is a historian at SUNY Binghamton who has spent 25 years studying the American Revolutionary period. His new book, Tyrants and Rogues, arrives just in time for the 250th anniversary o...

13 Mai 57min

Roald Dahl: Genius and Bigot

Roald Dahl: Genius and Bigot

For tickets to our live recording with Jon Meacham in Philadelphia, click here and register. Use code TFP for a 20 percent discount.  Roald Dahl gave the world Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, and...

7 Mai 49min

Populært innen Historie

med-egne-oyne
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
historier-som-endret-norge
sektledere
rss-katastrofe
rss-benadet
henrettelsespodden
historier-som-endret-verden
rss-historiske-romanser-svik-drap-og-kjarlighet
rss-strid
rss-bisarr-historie
aftenposten-historie
rss-nadelose-nordmenn-hirden
historiepodden
rss-de-dode-for-norge
historiepodden-ww2
taakeprat
liberal-halvtime
diktatorpodden
undersattene