Take 5: Sandler song Jewish, now newish

Adam Sandler says he wrote "The Chanukah Song" -- an ode to well-known Jews in all walks of life -- because Jewish kids needed something to call their own during the holiday season. With the Festival of Lights beginning Tuesday night, there's no better time to clue you in on five things to know about the ditty, which has become almost as iconic as "I Have a Little Dreidel."

* Sandler wrote the song, along with "SNL" staff writers Lewis Morton and Ian Maxtone-Graham.

* He performed it for the first time on the "Weekend Update" segment of Dec. 3, 1994.

* Among the Jewish celebrities mentioned in that version were the Three Stooges, Kirk Douglas and David Lee Roth.

* He re-recorded the song twice, adding more famous names each time. The 1999 version included Bruce Springsteen, "who isn't Jewish, but my mother thinks he is." The 2002 edition, recorded for Sandler's movie "Eight Crazy Nights," referenced Jews like Paula Abdul and Joey Ramone and non-Jews like Marlon Brando ("not a Jew at all, but it looks to me like he ate one!").

* In 2009, Neil Diamond covered the song on his holiday album, "A Cherry Cherry Christmas."