THE DREIDEL SONG. BtVS Allusion/Intertext.

The dreidel is a four-sided spinning top, used for a children’s game played during Hanukah. The most likely song to which Xander refers in the second season episode "Bad Eggs" is “My Dreydl,” the first stanza of which is below:(1)

 

I have a little dreidel, I made it out of clay,

And when it’s dry and ready,

Then dreidel I shall play!

Oh dreidel, deridel, dreidel,

I made it out of clay,

Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel

Now dreidel I shall play.

The song (sung in Yiddish) can be heard here http://campuscgi.princeton.edu/~klez/zemerl/clips/dreydl.wav.

-- Jennifer Dowling

(1) “My Dreydl” in The Songs We Sing. Ed. Harry Coopersmith, New York: The United Synagogue Commission on Jewish Education, 1950, p. 109. Music: Samuel Goldfarb; Lyrics: S. S. Grossman.