Thanks to Lars, who writes all the way from Denmark:

I’ve listened to Bob Dylan since I was a kid trying to learn to play the guitar. Now I’m fifty-four – and I can play the guitar. I was as surprised as anyone else when I read that Dylan was releasing a Christmas album. As it turned out, the album did not surprise me at all. It is very straightforward. It is Dylan singing Christmas songs in his well-worn voice. What surprises me is that so many people are surprised and in some cases outraged by it. How did they think it was going to sound? Another thing that surprised me after a few listenings is how much some of these tunes resemble Dylan songs. They are written in much the same kind of musical language as many of Dylan’s own songs. Which shouldn’t come as a great surprise either. Presumably Dylan knew these songs from an early age. When I heard ‘The First Noel’, I was reminded of ‘Lenny Bruce’ – musically speaking. There is nothing strange about hearing Dylan sing these songs. I think that without those songs, his own stuff would probably have sounded different. It is the same musical idiom.

‘Christmas in The Heart’ instantly felt to me like a very private album. An informal album that could have been recorded as a private thing. It reminds me of passages in ‘Chronicles’ where you find references to family outings and things Dylan did (or tried to do) with his kids. Boat trips, fishing trips. One of the terrifying aspects of Dylan’s long career is that no one for the last fifty years or so ever seemed to realize that apart from being the artist that he is, Dylan is also a father and a man who, I guess, likes to do what most people like to do. ‘Christmas in The Heart’ demonstrates that he has a fondness for Christmas and the music that goes with it. When I first listened to ‘Workingman’s Blues # 2′, I had an overwhelming sense of Dylan’s generosity – don’t ask me to explain why, either you felt like that or you didn’t. ‘Christmas in The Heart’ is like that too. It is generous, funny and completely un-controversial. Which these days, apparently, is about as controversial as you can get. You can debate this record from now till Judgement Day – but why should you? It’s Dylan singing Christmas songs just like everybody else sings Christmas songs. Sometimes it sounds touching, sometimes funny, sometimes tender, sometimes sombre. It sounds like a home-made, carefully done Christmas present for everyone. And ain’t that a wonderful thing?

Indeed.

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