The trio performed the song in concerts starting in 1982, before recording it for their 1986 studio album No Easy Walk to Freedom.
A popular Hanukkah song, "Light One Candle" features lyrics commemorating the war of national liberation fought by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Greek empire from 167 to 141 BCE.
The song's title is mentioned a total of eight times in the first two verses, reflecting the number of days that Chanukah is observed.
The Third verse asks two questions with a very important answer: "What is the memory that's valued so highly That we keep it alive in that flame?
"Light One Candle," written in 1982 by Peter Yarrow and first performed at Carnegie Hall, [1] [2] was a pacifist response to the 1982 Lebanon War as reflected in the lyrics: In 1983, when Peter, Paul and Mary performed the song in Jerusalem - in a country torn over the Lebanon War - they added lyrics to address the political complexities faced by their audience: When they repeated the chorus, "Don't let the light go out, it's lasted for so many years, Don't let the light go out, let it shine through our love and our tears," the politically mixed audience cheered.