Wikipedia's first sentence called it “actually a series of songs written and performed by adam sandler”. Today it says “novelty song written by comedian adam sandler with saturday night live co-star norm macdonald and writers lewis”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
The Chanukah Song is actually a series of songs written and performed by Adam Sandler .1The theme of the songs is that Jewish children feel isolated during the Christmas season, so Sandler lists popular Jewish celebrities. Simpson (" not a Jew!"), the Three Stooges , Abigail Van Buren (" Dear Abby "), and Henry Winkler (" Arthur Fonzarelli ") ( Pauly Shore ) (and the Weasel Pauly Shor-ah) Persons referenced in the The Chanukah Song, Part II : Jennifer Beals , the Beastie Boys , Yasmine Bleeth , Bob Dylan , Happy Gilmore , Dustin Hoffman , Harvey Keitel , Calvin Klein , Lenny Kravitz , Ralph Lauren , Robert Levine (" Mary Tyler Moore 's husband" "Cause we're pretty good in the sack"), Courtney Love , Don Messick ("the guy who does the voice for Scooby Doo "), Winona Ryder , O. Simpson ("Still not a jew"), Veruca Salt , Bruce Springsteen ("isn't Jewish, but my mother thinks he is"), and Tiger Woods . Persons referenced in The Chanukah Song, Part III : Paula Abdul , Tom Arnold , Beck , Osama bin Laden ("Not a big fan of the Jews"), Jack Black , David Blaine , Marlon Brando , Perry Farrell , Melissa Gilbert , Harry Houdini , Sarah Hughes , Lisa Kudrow (" Phoebe "), David Lander (" Lenny's pal Squiggy "), Michael Landon , Jerry Lewis , Debra Messing , Willie Nelson , Sean Penn , Natalie Portman , Joey Ramone , Lou Reed , Rob Schneider (" Deuce Bigalow "), David Schwimmer (" Ross "), and Ben Stiller Note that not all of the persons mentioned in these songs are actually Jewish and some of the persons mentioned are fictional.2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16360645.
The opening as it stood in 2010 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
" The Chanukah Song " is a series of humorous songs written and performed by Adam Sandler .All variations center on the theme of Jewish children feeling alienated during the Christmas season, and Sandler's listing of Jewish celebrities (both real and fictional).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 366106351.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
" The Chanukah Song " is a novelty song written by comedian Adam Sandler with Saturday Night Live writers Lewis Morton and Ian Maxtone-Graham and originally performed by Sandler on Saturday Night Live ' s Weekend Update on December 3, 1994.Sandler subsequently performed the song as part of his stand-up act, later updating it with new lyrics.All variations center on the theme of Jewish children feeling alienated during the Christmas season, and Sandler's listing of Jewish celebrities (both real and fictional) as a way of sympathizing with their situation.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 656044517.
The opening as it stood in 2020
" The Chanukah Song " is a novelty song written by comedian Adam Sandler with Saturday Night Live writers Lewis Morton and Ian Maxtone-Graham and originally performed by Sandler on Saturday Night Live ' s Weekend Update on December 3, 1994. Sandler subsequently performed the song as part of his stand-up act, later updating it with new lyrics. All variations center on the theme of Jewish children feeling alienated during the Christmas season, and Sandler's listing of Jewish celebrities (both real and fictional) as a way of sympathizing with their situation.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 938568743.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
" The Chanukah Song " is a novelty song written by comedian Adam Sandler with Saturday Night Live writers Lewis Morton and Ian Maxtone-Graham and originally performed by Sandler on Saturday Night Live ' s Weekend Update on December 3, 1994. Sandler subsequently performed the song as part of his stand-up act, later updating it with new lyrics. All variations center on the theme of Hanukkah and of religious Jewish children feeling alienated during the Christmas season, and Sandler's listing of Jewish celebrities (with both real-life and fictional connections to Judaism) as a way of sympathizing with their situation.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1175614280.
The opening as it stood in 2025
1994 novelty song by Adam Sandler " The Chanukah Song " is a novelty song written by comedian Adam Sandler with Saturday Night Live writers Lewis Morton and Ian Maxtone-Graham and originally performed by Sandler on Saturday Night Live ' s Weekend Update on December 3, 1994. Sandler subsequently performed the song as part of his stand-up act, later updating it with new lyrics. All variations center on the theme of Hanukkah and of religious Jewish children feeling alienated during the Christmas season, and Sandler's listing of Jewish celebrities (with both real-life and fictional connections to Judaism) as a way of sympathizing with their situation.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1286924873. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “actually a series of songs written and performed by adam sandler”. Today it says “novelty song written by comedian adam sandler with saturday night live co-star norm macdonald and writers lewis”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
actually a series of songs written and performed by adam sandler
Now
novelty song written by comedian adam sandler with saturday night live co-star norm macdonald and writers lewis
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
