7 O’Clock News/Maoz Tzur
In 1966, the folk-rock duo Simon and Garfunkel recorded a track called “7 O’Clock News/Silent Night” for their third album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. The track is a sound collage–Simon and Garfunkel’s version of the Christmas carol “Silent Night” overlaid with a newscaster reading actual events that took place in 1966. “Silent Night” is mixed on the left channel, and the news broadcast is mixed on the right channel, so if you listen to the track on headphones, you hear beautiful, peaceful music in your left ear and a disturbing, jarring news report in your right ear.
As the track progresses, the news report gets louder and louder. The newscaster says, among other things: “In Los Angeles today, comedian Lenny Bruce died of what was believed to be an overdose of narcotics. Bruce was 42 years old.” “Dr. Martin Luther King says he does not intend to cancel plans for an open housing march Sunday into the Chicago suburb of Cicero. The police in Cicero said they would ask the National Guard to be called out if it is held,” and “Former Vice-President Richard Nixon says that unless there is a substantial increase in the present war effort in Vietnam, the US should look forward to five more years of war.”
The track was intended as a subversive piece of social and political commentary. The message is not subtle–how can anyone possibly have a “silent night” while the world is on fire?
I thought about that song all week as I lit the Hanukkah candles each night. As we sang Maoz Tzur, I heard the beautiful, timeless Hanukkah melody in my left ear and the terrible news of this past week ringing in my right ear. Two students killed at Brown University. A professor killed at MIT. Rob and Michelle Reiner senselessly murdered in their home by their own son. Fifteen Jews gunned down at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in the worst antisemitic attack since October 7th. This week, it felt like that iconic song had come to life. “7 O’Clock News/Maoz Tzur.”
On “7 O’Clock News/Silent Night,” as the news report gets louder and louder, Simon and Garfunkel never stop singing. And it dawned on me this week that although they are singing a Christmas song, with that track, Simon and Garfunkel–two Jewish boys from Queens–were making a profound Jewish statement. No matter how terrible and tragic the world may be, no matter how dark and overwhelming things may feel, Jews never stop singing. The news gets louder—violence, hatred, senseless tragedy—and our response is to light another candle. Sing another verse. Because we never stop bringing light and song into the world. Even when our voices crack. Even–or especially–when the melody strains against the noise.
