Well, I ain't gonna work on Santa's farm no more...
Posted on 08/25/2009 4:39:58 PM PDT by NotThere
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Bob Dylan’s Holiday LP “Christmas in the Heart” Due October 13th 8/25/09, 4:55 pm EST
Photo: Miller/FilmMagic
Bob Dylan has made his latest unpredictable career move: Rolling Stone has learned that Bob Dylan will release a Christmas album October 13th. Entitled Christmas in the Heart, the collection will feature holiday standards including “Must Be Santa,” “Little Drummer Boy,” “Winter Wonderland” and “Here Comes Santa Claus.” All U.S. royalties from the collection will benefit the charity Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity. Other proceeds from the disc will benefit hunger relief organizations around the world.
Although Dylan famously converted to Christianity in the late 1970s, he’s widely believed to have switched back to Judaism years ago — he appeared on Orthodox fundraising telethons in the 1980s and has attended Yom Kippur services in the past few years.
(Excerpt) Read more at rollingstone.com ...
FYI
Interesting.I guess he can’t decide whether he’s Christian or Jewish.Oh well.
Most. Resistible. Christmas. Album. EVER.
IT was early to mid not late seventies. Larry Norman was said to be instrumental in witnessing to Bob.
I guess everyone has to do this at some point. I love Dylan, and I know at one time that he really loved the Lord. His gospel years were some of my favorite.
Come they told me that heroin's bad...
No way!
So, like that makes him what, a Quaker?
yep, although the only one I can remember from that period was "Property of Jesus."
Well, I ain't gonna work on Santa's farm no more...
Dylan is a great songwriter but has a horrible voice. I say it every time I see a Dylan story on FR.
Gotta Serve Somebody
by Bob Dylan
You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
You might be a rock ‘n’ roll addict prancing on the stage,
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,
You may be a business man or some high degree thief,
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief...
Song lyrics here: http://www.bestlyrics.org/B/0/Bob-Dylan/Gotta-Serve-Somebody/
Agreed. This is not one of his better ideas. Imagine “O Come All Ye Faithful” in his nasal tones.
FYI
ping
Didya know this?
He’s stolen MY idea!!!!
I’ve always thought of recording a “Bob Dylan Christmas” album and sending it to Dr. Demento.
I can just hear Bobby ‘singing’ those beloved songs...
“Here Comes Santa Claus”
“Rudolph the Reindeer”
“Oh Holy Night”
“Jingle Bells”
“The 12 Days of Christmas”
He’s always had alot Christian imagery in music. Blood On The Tracks and Desire come to mind.
If nothing else the voice will make you focus on the words
.
I often try to imagine someone buying his first album and putting on Side B first, and the room filling with the sound of “Gospel Plow.”
He still writes songs with gospel themes. They are just much more subtle now. I like his overt gospel tunes also. “Slow Train Coming”, “Solid Rock,” “Every Grain of Sand.”
Last night I was listening to “Summer Days” off of “Love and Theft, and I found religious themes throughout. Here’s the lyrics, followed by my two cents:
Summer Days
Summer days, summer nights are gone
Summer days and the summer nights are gone
I know a place where there’s still somethin’ going on
I got a house on a hill, I got hogs all out on in the mud
I got a house on a hill, I got hogs out lying in the mud
Got a long haired woman, she got royal Indian blood
Everybody get ready - lift up your glasses and sing
Everybody get ready to lift up your glasses and sing
Well, I’m standin’ on the table, I’m proposing a toast to the King
Well I’m drivin’ in the flats in a Cadillac car
The girls all say, “You’re a worn out star”
My pockets are loaded and I’m spending every dime
How can you say you love someone else when you know it’s me all the time?
Well, the fog’s so thick you can’t spy the land
The fog is so thick that you can’t even spy the land
What good are you anyway, if you can’t stand up to some old businessman?
Wedding bells ringin’, the choir is beginning to sing
Yes, the wedding bells are ringing and the choir is beginning to sing
What looks good in the day, at night is another thing
She’s looking into my eyes, she’s holding my hand
She’s looking into my eyes, she’s holding my hand
She says, “You can’t repeat the past.” I say, “You can’t? What do you mean, you can’t? Of course you can.”
Where do you come from? Where do you go?
Sorry that’s nothin’ you would need to know
Well, my back has been to the wall for so long, it seems like it’s stuck
Why don’t you break my heart one more time just for good luck
I got eight carburetors, boys I’m using ‘em all
Well, I got eight carburetors and boys, I’m using ‘em all
I’m short on gas, my motor’s starting to stall
My dogs are barking, there must be someone around
My dogs are barking, there must be someone around
I got my hammer ringin’, pretty baby, but the nails ain’t goin’ down
You got something to say, speak or hold your peace
Well, you got something to say, speak now or hold your peace
If it’s information you want you can go get it from the police
Politician got on his jogging shoes
He must be running for office, got no time to lose
He been suckin’ the blood out of the genius of generosity
You been rolling your eyes - you been teasing me
Standing by God’s river, my soul is beginnin’ to shake
Standing by God’s river, my soul is beginnin’ to shake
I’m countin’ on you love, to give me a break
Well, I’m leaving in the morning as soon as the dark clouds lift
Yes, I’m leaving in the morning just as soon as the dark clouds lift
Gonna break the roof in - set fire to the place as a parting gift
Summer days, summer nights are gone
Summer days, summer nights are gone
I know a place where there’s still somethin’ going on
My two cents: I think he says a lot in this fun romp of a song. He says he’s getting old, looking at death. When he says he’s proposing a toast to the King, at first I thought he meant Elvis. Now I think he means THE KING. He says he doesn’t owe anyone here on earth any information. He only needs to worry about God, and His mercy. He says this world is not something he will miss, you can blow it up for all he cares. When he says there’s a place where there’s still something going on, I believe he means Heaven.
Wow. What a profound and original thought.
The priest wore black on the seventh day, and sat stone faced while the building burned.
—Idiot Wind.
Well said. He’s actually a very good singer with a very rough, hard to take voice. It’s not for everyone. But his phrasing, and his emotional content, is extraordinary.
In fact, I think he wants his voice ugly. It fits into his world view, which is pessimistic.
Actually the best music is made by people with “horrible” voices. I’ll take the gravelly voices of talented songwriters like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, and Neil Young anyday over the “polished” vocals of insipid pop singers.
I have resisted the Barbra Streisand one easily these many years. The Dylan one much less so
Agreed. This is not one of his better ideas.
According to Amazon.com, there is an album scheduled for release on October 13 called “Christmas From the Heart”, but it’s by David Archuleta, not Dylan.
Hendrix and Canned Heat already have Christmas albums.
Dylan’s will probably be pretty good.
“Keep your hand on that plow, hooold on!”
Oy!
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