As reported by Isis and Bully! Pulpit, Bob Dylan is currently working on a Christmas album and I am happy to announce starcasm.net has the first sneak peek at the cover art AND the track listing! From the looks of it, the release will be two CDs and feature 20 Christmerrific holidylan tunes!
(Click the cover image to zoom in!)
DISC ONE:
I Threw It All Away In A Manger
I Dreamed I Saw St. Nicholas
Sleigh Lady Sleigh
Ho-Ho-Ho-ing in the Wind
Joy To The World Gone Wrong
Not Christmas Yet (But It’s Gettin’ There)
Man In The Furry Red Coat
The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Christmas Carroll
Ballad Of A Fat Man
Ho-Ho-Hozambique
DISC TWO:
Reindeer Landlord
Gift Not For You
On A Silent Night, Holy Night Like This
Yea! Cookie And A Bottle Of Milk
I Am A Lonesome Ho-Ho-Hobo
Silvio Bells
What Was It You Wanted?
Frosty The Snowman In Me
If You See Her, Say Ho-Ho-Ho
Deck The Walls Of Red Wing
How about that?!?! I can’t wait to dance around to “Ho-Ho-Hozambique,” but I’m a little frightened of the gloomy sounding “Not Christmas Yet.” After first glance, my favorite would have to be “Silvio Bells,” though “I Dreamed I Saw St. Nicholas” is impeccable!
BUT SERIOUSLY FOLKS, Bully! Pulpit reports that the album will be a mixture of “Christmas carols and modern songs. At least four songs have reportedly been recorded for the album including, ‘Must Be Santa,’ ‘Here Comes Santa Claus,’ ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas’ and ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem.’”
My first reaction was a typical “Whuh? You’re kidding?!?” But, after thinking about it a few minutes, I realized it’s not all that weird at all. Christmas songs range from deeply spiritual and somber to fun and humorous, and that seems to be exactly what Dylan has been going for on his last three fantastic releases: “Love and Theft”
There is no official release date, and Dylan is notorious for projects getting delayed or disappearing off the radar altogether, but I’ll remain optimistic – much like Paste Magazine who say, “No word yet on a release date, but we have a sneaking suspicion it could come out sometime between November 26 and December 25 of this year. Call it a hunch.”
In Bob’s words, “I Can’t Wait!”
I encourage everyone to come up with some Dylan Christmas songs! Some that didn’t quite make the cut on my list were:
Tangled Up In Blue Christmas
Christmas Time Out Of Mind
All The Tired Reindeer
Hard Times In Little Town Of Bethlehem
And more from the much overused “Ho-Ho-Ho” genre:
Ho-Ho-Ho And Behold!
Ho-Ho-Ho, Sister
Visions Of Jo-ho-ho-hanna
UPDATE – Check out this hilarious post with Dylan Christmas lyrics and more suggested song titles! Actually, it seems they beat starcasm to the punch on a track listing! (Mmmmmmmm…fellow Dylanites. Hey – do any of you think Street Legal
UPDATE 2 – Correspondent Kent Jones tackled the notion of a Bob Dylan Christmas album on the Rachel Maddow show:
Meh. Rachel should have got in touch with some of the clever folks commenting on this post and others all over the web! That stuff is much much funnier. “Bob the Tank Engine?” That’s the best you could come up with? Email me Rachel, I’ll hook you up!
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How about:
-Last Thoughts on Figgy Pudding
-Seven Days (of Hanukkah)
-Please, Mrs. Claus
-Nothing Was Delivered (A Christmas Morning Tragedy)
-Santa, Can you Please Crawl Out My Window?
With Santa On Our Side
Talkin’ Bear Mountain Christmas Massacre Blues
Tangled Up In Blue Christas Lights
Seven Days of Christmas
Angelinas We Have Heard On High
Christmas In Durango
Santa You Been On My Mind
If You Gotta Go, Go Get Me Anther Eggnog (Or else!)
Seeing The Real Yule At Last
Standing In The Fireplace
New Toy Pony
Baby, Stop Crying, It’s Christmas
Where Snowflakes Fall
10,000 Merry Gentlemen
Tell Me, Momma, (Why Were You Kissing Santa Claus)?
Stockings Of Spanish Leather
When The Gift Comes In
See That Your Chimney’s Kept Clean
Under The White Sky
Something’s Burning, Baby (Could It Be The Roast)?
Yea! Heavy And A Big White Beard
34th Street Scandal
Temporary Like It Chilly
Tryin’ To Get To Macys
Thank you Dylanesque! I completely forgot about “Yule!” Yule Angel Yule, Most Likely Yule Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine), I Forgot More Than Yule Ever Know (About Her). (I liked 34th Street Scandal and Seeing The Real Yule At Lat the Best!)
Like your ideas for songs…hate the thought of Dylan actually recording a Christmas album…perhaps you could take over as producer?
Producer? Nah. Maybe “creative consultant!”
This is the story of the Candy Cane!
Everybody missed this one :
“Santa Baby (Stop Crying)”
Ahhhhh…Another Street Legal reference! Those count double! Nice one Eric.
It should be entitled “The Times They Ain’t A-Changin’” with the title song goin’ something like this . . . . .
“Pretend you’re a sweet Christian
Pretend you’re a hurt Jew/
Pretend you’re a Buddhist
or Satanist too/
At end you ain’t nothin’ but DNA goo/
Preorder, get Zeromas savin’s/
The more you sell the more you get, it’s
jungle or zoo/
For the times they ain’t a-changin’”
a fun “parlor game” a friend suggested. he had a few to suggest and ended by saying “or we could just go with ‘Buy And Buy.’”
Dude, funniest one of all was “What Was It You Wanted?” A master of comedic subtlety you are!
Asa, freakin hilarious! Totally twisted. These were my fave’s:
The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Christmas Carroll
Joy To The World Gone Wrong
Reindeer Landlord
I Threw It All Away In A Manger
and don’t forget…
“Ain’t Gonna Buy a Gift For Anybody”
“To Be A Gnome With You”
Love it! Love it! Dennis nailed down the retail angle and imbuttinin not only made a “previously unreleased” reference, but also stretched the boundaries by introducing “gnome” into the mix. “Gnomebody ‘Cept You” would do that! I saw “Trust Your Elf” somewhere else – darn that’s a goodun! Oooo – How ’bout “Santa Fe” – subtle but nice! “Don’t Check Your List Twice, It’s Alright” Somebody stop me! “Egg Noggin’ On Heaven’s Door” Ayeeeeee!!!……….
(Actually I think I might start adding these to the post – don’t be offended if I leave a couple off!)
a few more:
tryin’ to get to Macy’s (before they close the store)
not hark yet
love is just a 4-antlered herd
standing in the store way
when the shipment comes in
girl from the north pole
Hello Asa,
Very clever and catchy cover. Album should include “It Takes a Lot to Ho-Ho-Ho, it takes a Sleigh to Cry.” On a serious note, would love to hear Dylan cover the Band’s “Christmas Must be Tonight.”
On another note, I’ve always loved Street Legal, hard to find an album with such powerful beginning and ending songs–Changing of the Guards and Where are you tonight? And the moody dark tune of ‘Senor’ was the predecessor to the haunting “Man in the Long Black Coat.” Both songs paint such vivid images; you can smell the whiskey in the bar and the dust on the street.
Tidings of joy,
Jon
Booyeah Jon! That fade in at the beginning and then ………….SIXTEEN YEARS! I love that Street Legal got represented on Greatest Hits Volume Three, but I get vertigo when that song kicks in as track two – it just ain’t right! And “Where Are You Tonight” is HARDCORE and just never relents. “Her father would emphasize, you got to be more than streetwise, and he practiced what he preached from the heart,” with those back-up singers overloading the circuits. Ahhhhhhh!!!!
Ummmmm, what were we talking about? Oh yeah – the Bob Dylan Christmas album! I guess my serious input would be a request for “That’s Christmas Time To Me” (or at least I think that’s the title). There’s a version by Bill Monroe that sends chills up and down my Appalachian-born spine and I think Bob could nail it in a completely different way than Bill’s perfect tenor. Also, “Goin’ Home For Christmas” by Merle Haggard would be on my list as well, but only if Bob does the grandpa voice at the beginning! Click the link to hear part of the song on amazon, but you’ll have to shell out 99 cents to hear “the grandpa voice.” (A bluesified “Merry Christmas Baby” would rock too! A-la “My Blue-Eyed Jane” from the Jimmie Rodgers Tribute.)
What Was It You Wanted For Christmas?
You Herald Angel You
A Hard Snow’s A-Gonna Fall
Slow Sleigh Coming
One Too Many Christmas Mornings
Man In The Long Red And White Coat
One More Cup Of Egg Nog
Snowin’ In The Wind
Ring Them Christmas Bells
Like A Rolling Snowball
Can You Please Crawl Out Your Chimney?
On A Silent Night Like This
Visions Of Sugarplums
Obviously 5 Belivers In Santa Claus
I Dreamed I Saw Saint Nicholas
Handy Candycane
In The Wintertime
Every Flake Of Snow
When The Silent Night Comes Falling From The Sky
Make You Feel My Glove
Can’t Wait (To Open My Gifts)
Standing In The Doorway Under The Mistletoe
Very Cold Irons Bound
If You Ever Go To Bethlehem
Holy Crap! Snowbootleg Series! That’s what I’m talking about! Well, we now have an entire Volume Two – can we make it Three? (Man – “Handy Candycane” – it don’t get no better than that!)
The Christmas Times, They Are A-Changing
Ring Them Bells (Ho Ho)
Santa’s 115th Dream
New Reindeer
This is too funny and delightful. I agree, the cover is spectacular! Bob does good Santa! Thanks for the giggles.
Hi Asa,
how sweet this coverart is!!! When this chrismas album of our our man BOB really comes out, WE WANT IT WITH THIS COVER!!! Great.
cheers from Hamburg
Bert