Buttkickin’ Holiday Songs: “Miracle” — Matisyahu (2010)

blgmiracleEight is the number of infinity
One more than what you know how to be
And this is the light of festivity
When your broken heart yearns to be free

Here’s a Hokeyboy Fun Fact: my Hebrew name is also Matisyahu. Hah!

And let’s also be really real for a moment: the pool of “buttkickin'” Chanukkah is exceedingly shallow. That’s probably the Understatement of the Year. There are, sure, some fun songs, some sing-along songs, some cutesy happy funtime songs, even a few hilarious songs, but absolutely no really kickass Hanukah songs to speak of. Could it any less telling that some of the best Jewish songwriters of all time wrote some of the best Christmas songs of all time?

It’s a little off-putting, to say the least. And honestly: I’ve been a Jew for nearly 44 years now, and I haven’t seen a SINGLE. DREIDLE. MADE OUT OF CLAY. EVER.

The song lies.

OK leave it to rap/reggae/whatever-you-call-it artist Matisyahu to knock it straight out of the park with the 2010 track Miracle, one of the catchiest, soulful, and heartfelt holiday songs to come down the pike in a good while. The song has a strong spiritual slant, a yearning for inner peace and understanding, about finding those sweet, simple miracles trapped in the cold concrete well of everyday existential woe. Or something. It just has a great feel, a killer beat, an infection groove, and makes your Festival of Lights just a bit brighter.

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