Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Here Comes Bob Dylan . . . As Santa Claus


It's no joke, & it's all for charity: Bob Dylan's Christmas In The Heart, a fifteen track cover album that will be available on Tuesday, October 13, 2009. Domestic proceeds will go to Feeding America, which works with food banks in the US, and some proceeds will go to international food aid. Bob Dylan as Santa Claus. Life keeps getting stranger and stranger . . .

I've heard snippets from all fifteen tracks, beginning with a jolly "Here Comes Santa Claus" (complete with cheesey background vocals), through a gravel-throated "Do You Hear What I Hear?" (I hear Marianne Faithfull), and on to "O Little Town Of Bethlehem." Tinged with zydeco, "Must Be Santa" sounds deliriously insane. Utterly weird and often retro, it's clean family fun at the same time. Who would've thought? Maybe it's time to bring back A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector (1963), first released the day JFK died, or to imagine another holiday album concept, Roman Polanski's Live from a Swiss Jail . . .

Today's Rune: Disruption.

2 comments:

the walking man said...

Crass commercialism for a cause. I think I could buy one but I would have to gift it out. Maybe my mother in law...yeah that would be sufficient pay back.

Johnny Yen said...

We have the Phil Spector Christmas album here.

A Bob Dylan Christmas album is kind of a punchline on its own, isn't it?