Passover is one of the most musical of Jewish holidays. The annual springtime celebration of the ancient Israelites’ exodus from slavery in Egypt is full of beloved traditions, from the elaborate seder meal to inviting the prophet Elijah in to join the festivities, and, of course, the eating of unleavened bread called matzah.
The meal is also packed with tunes that chronicle the harsh conditions the Jewish people suffered under the Pharaoh in Egypt. There are the Four Questions, sung by the youngest members of the family (“Ma Nishtana”), as well as “Avadim Hayinu,” a song about the transition from slavery to freedom and the rousing “Dayenu” (which translates to “It would have been enough”), expressing gratitude for God’s blessings.
Once the meal has been concluded, many families wind things down with the traditional final song, “Chad Gadya,” a breathless recitation of a chain of events that tells the story of the Jewish people using an elaborate metaphor that begins with a father buying a goat for two coins, only to have it eaten by a cat, who gets bitten by a dog. The mutt, in turn, is beaten with a stick that is burnt by fire, then quenched by water, which is consumed by an ox that is slaughtered by a butcher who is killed by the angel of death. Whew. The cumulative song is traditionally sung at an ever-increasing, frantic pace until the Holy One slays the Angel of death.
For the most part, unlike the barrage of Christmas classics, Passover songs have not made the cross-over into mainstream, Billboard chart territory. There are plenty of traditional, as well as updated versions of the songs mentioned above, though, plus some modern tales in folk, reggae and pop styles by the likes of Matisyahu and even Jack Black, as well as a few parody tracks that lean into legitimate pop and K-pop hits to tell the ancient tale.
In honor of the holiday that kicks off on Saturday (April 12), check out our list of 10 Passover tunes you Haggadah-have.
Reggae pop singer Matisyahu hits some of the high notes of the holiday and the story of Moses parting the Red Sea on this 2012 song on which he sings, “With my eyes on the sky but my feet on the ground/ And the people they’ll come when they wanna gather ’round/ ‘Cause they hear some distant sound/ Split the sea jump in with me/ Tonight we leave in the streets we scream.”
Listen to it here.
While this 1977 Bob Marley classic touches on the story Moses leading the Israelites on their flight from Egypt, it is also the story of the fight for freedom for Rastafarians, which the reggae icon frequently couched in biblical terms. Some of the key lyrics include: “Movement of Jah people/ Send us another brother Moses/ Movement of Jah people/ From across the Red Sea… Set the captives free!”
Listen to it here.
Remember that whole thing we talked about with this list song and how by the end you are just totally out of breath because it keeps adding more and more items? Well, nobody nailed the energy and euphoria of it quite like Jack Black did during the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020. In his inimitable hyped-up style, the actor/singer turned the traditional song into a rocking modern classic, complete with fun illustrations.
Check it out here.
You can always count on American Orthodox a cappella group the Maccabeats to bring the holiday heat. And so we offer you a two-fer, beginning with “Mah Nishtanah,” the song in which we ask why this Passover night is different from all other nights. Using just their voices, the rims of wine glasses and the sound of breaking matzah, the six-man group give the standard a fresh sound. They also have some fun with the often epic length of some seder meals with this 1950s doo-wop take on “Dayenu,” which also throws in polka, hip-hop, ska punk, surf, EDM and barbershop quartet vibes into the mix.
Six13, another Jewish a cappella group, are known for their covers and parodies of modern pop songs with a Chosen twist. They keep things super contemporary on their brand new take on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart-topper “APT.” by Bruno Mars and BLACKPINK’s Rosé, which they flip into “PSVR.” In their hands, the song’s lyrics borrow heavily from the book Jews read from during the seder meal, the Haggadah, with an opening chant that goes: “Pass-o-pass-o-ver/ Pass-o-pass-o-ver,” to the tune of the original’s chorus. Elsewhere they sing/rap: “Seder plate, seder plate, parsley, maror/ Hoping Elijah will appear,” in lyrics that shout-out many of the building blocks of the traditional meal.
Plus the chorus is just too much. “Don’t you know that we were freed from slavery?/ Don’t you feel how much it means right now?/ Sleep tomorrow because tonight’s the seder/ We’re just gonna celebrate freedom, ’cause it’s/ Pass-o-pass-o-ver.”
Listen to it here.
As long as we’re talking parody songs, we have to include this 2011 gem from Jewish Treats that puts a new spin on Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” by adding some classic angst about getting things just right. Another a cappella banger, this one opens with “Woke up in bed at the corner of Lex with a dream of how it used to be/ Remembering the time of the Exodus (oy)/ And how the Jews were set free/ Jumped in a cab, throwing a Seder for the first time/ Look to the right and I see the Manischewitz sign.”
On the way to the chorus, they sing, “That’s when the matzah man turned on the radio/ The Dayenu song was, and the Dayenu song was on/ So I put my yarmulke on, they’re playin’ my song/ And the butterflies fly away.”
Check out the best seder here.
Though this song is a traditional spiritual tied to the Underground Railroad featuring a coded message with instructions on how to flee from slavery, Jewish vocal group Mostly Kosher Band’s dirge-like 2022 cover re-imagines it as the story of the the Israelites’ escape from Egypt. “Whose that children all dressed in white?/ Must be the children of the Israelite/ And whose the children all dressed in red?/ They must be the children that Moses led,” they sing over an arrangement that incorporates a Klezmer flair.
Listen to it here.
1950s crooner Bobby Darin’s song about the virtues of pursuing individual freedom in the face of society’s strictures is not explicitly about Passover, but the anti-war anthem’s universal message is in keeping with the holiday’s themes of celebrating liberation. That is especially true in the hands of 1960s folk singer Tim Hardin, whose moving rendition finds him singing, “Come and sing a simple song of freedom/ Sing it like you’ve never sung, never sung before/ Let it fill the air/ Tell the people everywhere/ We, the people here, don’t want a war.”
Listen to it here.
You can always count on rapper Kosha Dillz to bring the horseradish heat. The Israeli-American MC does it again in the video for his Notorious B.I.G.-inspired jam in which he traverses the N.Y. subway system in a Moses beard and white robes, with a crucial stop to drop bars outside of Katz’s Deli while holding a Seder plate.
“Moses in the building and the flow is just some children/ I’mma bring back all my children like the yes A/ Even on the 10th plague still tryin’ to get paid D-I-L-L-Z/ Okay and it’s truth or dare/ Even if it’s Union Square/ Walking with my sad B Pharaoh’s ass,” he raps while throwing his own Seder on a subway car. And of course, in a nod to the iconic hook from Biggie’s anthem “Big Poppa,” he also rhymes, “I love it when you eat my matzah/ You got a taste in my place/ Matzah pizza is great/ And I see some Pharaohs tonight where Moses killing their babies, their babies.”
Make it a matzah meal with Dillz here.
Singers Sean Carter and Caroline Cobb’s 2013 ballad tells the Passover story from a Christian perspective, with specific lyrical references to many of the scenes Jewish families sing about and discuss during the Seder meal. “There’s a promise in our veins/ But it’s faded by all these years in chains/ Send a prophet, send the plagues/ That by sunrise we will no more be slaves,” Carter sings.
Cobb picks up on the chorus, with a specific reference to the story told in the Haggadah (the book featuring the songs and narratives of Passover) about the visceral marking used to help spare the enslaved Jews from the plagues. “Take the lamb, take the blood/ And paint it on our doorways/ At night death will come but pass us by/ This is all our hope and peace,” she sings.
Listen to it here.