♪♫ Happy Hanukkah songs fight back

Hanukkah, the eight-day festival of lights, begins Wednesday after sundown. As coffee shops and shopping malls pump our aural pipes full of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," Jewish Americans are once more faced with a winter of musical despair: Where is the Hanukkah music?

Hasidic reggae musician Matisyahu offers up a theory over at NPR: Jewish American singer-songwriters have been too busy writing Christmas carols:

"White Christmas," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Silver Bells" and "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting)" were all written by Jews. Both Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand have their own Christmas albums. The No. 1 bestselling Christmas album of all time is from Kenneth Bruce Gorelick, the Jewish smooth-jazz legend Kenny G.

For years, the mocking strains of Adam Sandler's "Happy Hannukah" was the only song dragged out and dusted off for the season. But there there are great songs that find inspiration in the tale of the tiny Jewish army that defeated the Greeks and the oil that kept the flame lighted for eight days and nights.

Here's a roundup of some songs to kick of Hanukkah right:

The hipster-pop, toe-tapping tune:

The goofy a cappella cover:

The famous children's chorus sugary sweetness:

The oldie but goodie jam band: