Do you hear what I hear?
Christmas in the Heart is the thirty-fourth studio album by Bob Dylan, released in 2009. At the time it surprised many fans and critics, because it was a straight Cover Album of old Christmas carols and songs, coming from an iconic protest singer like Dylan who'd never done anything like this before—especially given that Dylan had reportedly converted back to Judaism from his 1970s born-again Christianity. The profits of the album went to the charities Feeding America
in the USA, Crisis in the United Kingdom, and the World Food Programme.
Tracklist:
- "Here Comes Santa Claus"
- "Do You Hear What I Hear?"
- "Winter Wonderland"
- "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"
- "I'll Be Home for Christmas"
- "Little Drummer Boy"
- "The Christmas Blues"
- "O' Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)"
- "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
- "Must Be Santa"
- "Silver Bells"
- "The First Noel"
- "Christmas Island"
- "The Christmas Song"
- "O Little Town of Bethlehem"
Tropes in the heart:
- Alliterative Title:
- "Winter Wonderland"
- "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"
- And Starring: David Hidalgo from Los Lobos on guitar, accordion, violin and mandolin.
- As the Good Book Says...: Some songs refer to Jesus Christ's supposed birth on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, which in fact is not historically proven to have happened on that specific day. People already held end-of-the-year festivities centuries before Christ's birth and the Church simply adapted Jesus' birth to that date because these pagan festivities were too popular to simply ignore or suppress.
- Away in a Manger: "Adeste Fideles", "O Little Town of Bethlehem", "The First Noel" are about Jesus Christ's birth in Bethlehem.
- Charity Motivation Song: All the profits for this album go to charity.
- Christmas Songs: Naturally.
- Concept Album: In the sense that all tracks are about Christmas.
- Cover Album: All tracks are covers, and it's the first time he did a Cover Album in which the majority of the songs are 20th Century pop numbers (a trend that continued on Shadows in the Night, Fallen Angels and Triplicate).
- Design Student's Orgasm: The album cover is an old fashioned picture of people travelling by sled. If you didn't know any better you'd never think it was recorded by Bob Dylan.
- Did I Mention It's Christmas?: All songs allude to it.
- Everyone Is Christian at Christmas: Especially true with Dylan himself, who is Jewish (well, Ambiguously Jewish; he had a born-again Christian phase in the 70s, but everybody thought he had gone back to Judaism until he released this album, but now everyone's confused), but still felt that Christmas is celebrated by everyone worldwide, thus everyone can allude its own meanings to it.
- Gratuitous Latin: He opens "O Come All Ye Faithful" with the original "Adeste Fideles" verse. His pronunciation isn't bad, but it's still Bob Dylan singing Latin.note
- In the Style of: "Must Be Santa" has some echoes of klezmer in this version, true to Dylan's Jewish roots.
- Location Song: "O Little Town of Bethlehem", where Jesus Christ, according to the New Testament, was born.
- New Sound Album: For Dylan this was a triple change in style: 1) A Cover Album 2) built around one concept: 3) Christmas.
- One-Man Song: "Little Drummer Boy".
- Pen Name: Dylan is credited as producer under the Punny Name "Jack Frost".
- Questioning Title?: "Do You Hear What I Hear?".
- Record Producer: Bob Dylan.
- Santa Claus: "Here Comes Santa", "Must Be Santa".
- Something Blues: "The Christmas Blues".
- The Something Song: "The Christmas Song".
- The Three Wise Men: They appear as characters in "Adeste Fideles", "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "The First Noel".
