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Cathy Wurzer

The story of 'Eight Days of Hanukkah,' a song written by Utah Senator Orrin Hatch

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U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) retires at the end of this term after more than 40 years in the Senate, but a lesser-known fact about the Senator is that he is a prolific songwriter.

Hatch's canon tends towards love ballads and Christian music, but nearly two decades ago, he was interviewed by Jeffrey Goldberg — now the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic — and Goldberg asked Hatch whether he'd ever tried his hand at a Hanukkah song.

Goldberg writes that Hatch, who is Mormon, was interested — but nothing came of it until years later, when Goldberg followed up with a blog post remembering when Hatch had almost written a Hanukkah song at his suggestion. A few days later the Senator emailed him some draft verses, and the song came together from there.