Sen. Orrin Hatch writes a Hannukah song

Grammy-nominated Mormon Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has written a pop song about Hannukah, and he told The New York Times that his greatest wish is for Barbra Streisand to perform it.

The unofficial songwriter of the Senate, Hatch has been working on “Eight Days of Hannukah” for years, and the finished product represents a major departure from the lawmaker’s typical fare of patriotic- or religious-themed ditties.

Set to a synthesizer beat, the song retells the story of the festival of light using a traditional Hannukah tune with lots of minor chords and a vaguely

Middle Eastern tempo. The chorus is two repetitions of “Eight days of Hannukah, let’s celebrate tonight, hey!”

The song was recorded in New York in October for the Jewish magazine Tablet. In a video from the sessions, Hatch can be seen nodding while he watches the singer behind glass; he even joins in for a few “la la las.”

But “Eight Days of Hannukah” isn’t the only place where Hatch connects with Judaism. Far from it, in fact. The avowed Mormon wears a gold mezuzah around his neck at all times, and keeps mezuzahs by the doors of his homes in D.C. and Utah. “I feel sorry I’m not Jewish sometimes,” he says.

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