Tag Archives: Christmas in the Heart

by

Song of the Day #770: ‘O’ Little Town of Bethlehem’ – Bob Dylan

I started the Dylan Weekends series back in the closing days of January. And here we are in the closing days of August, a full seven months later.

It took me that long to explore every studio album Dylan has released so far — 34 of them — while leaving out 20 other albums consisting of either greatest hits, live performances or unreleased tracks.

It is to those albums that I will turn my attention next, specifically the amazing bootleg series that is surely the best project of its sort ever attempted.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #769: ‘Little Drummer Boy’ – Bob Dylan

Fans who’ve followed Bob Dylan over his five decade (and counting) recording career, as well as non-fans who I’ve subjected to six months (and counting) of Dylan Weekends, know to expect the unexpected. But even the die-hards were likely thrown by Dylan’s most recent release, 2009’s Christmas in the Heart, an album of Christmas standards.

Was this a throwback to his Christian phase? A joke? Another acoustic covers collection along the lines of Good As I Been To You and World Gone Wrong? It was none of the above, or maybe all of the above and something else besides.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #519: ‘Must Be Santa’ – Bob Dylan

Merry Christmas to all!

I’m taking a break from the Beck theme to wish everybody a happy holiday and present you with Mr. Bob Dylan’s rendition of ‘Must Be Santa,’ a song I’d never heard before buying his Christmas album two months ago. Here’s a link to the original for the nostalgic among you, but I must say I prefer Dylan’s version.

The wily old Jew turned Christian turned who-knows-what has the cheek to perform this little-known Christmas tune in full Klezmer fashion. What better way to start the day? And the video’s a hoot, too.

Continue reading →

by

Bob Dylan – Christmas in the Heart

christmasintheheartJust what everybody was clamoring for… an album of Christmas classics sung in the dulcet tones of Mr. Bob Dylan! In a career of head-scratching surprises, on the surface Bob Dylan’s latest release, Christmas in the Heart, might just be the head-scratchingest.

Here are 15 traditional Christmas songs — everything from ‘Little Drummer Boy’ and ‘Winter Wonderland’ to ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ and ‘Here Comes Santa Claus’ — played totally straight, complete with a choir of backup singers that make Frank Sinatra’s “j-i-n-g-l-e bells” seem downright gritty.

Continue reading →