Must Be Dylan

Here at Rock Turtleneck, we don’t normally get into the Christmas spirit until Santa makes his way up Broadway at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. But then we saw Bob Dylan’s yule-tastic new video for “Must Be Santa” from his new holiday record Christmas in the Heart, and now we’ve got egg nog running through our veins.

The video is pretty much a direct reenactment of Rock Turtleneck’s first office Christmas party in 2006: music a-blarin', punch overflowin', pretty girls aboundin', stuff getting broken for no apparent reason, and Dylan behind the bar with wine and a cigar.


This rollicking video is also notable for the return of Bob’s long blonde wig, which hasn’t been seen in public since his triumphant return to the Newport Folk Festival in 2002, 37 years after he first rocked the folk world by plugging in. Guess he just busts it out on special occasions.

Christmas in the Heart fulfills our long-standing fantasy of an Xmas album by Bob, who is well-versed in all styles of the American song form. Putting a zydeco-polka spin on the tune, Dylan, known for his way with words, cleverly rewrites one of the verses:

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen
Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton


In addition to featuring great old-school takes on classics from "Here Comes Santa Claus," "Silver Bells" and "Little Drummer Boy," Christmas in the Heart is going to put over 4.5 million meals on needy tables, as bobdylan.com explains:

"During this holiday season, Bob Dylan’s immediate donations from the Christmas In The Heart proceeds will provide 500,000 meals to school children in the developing world through the World Food Programme, 15,000 meals to homeless people in the United Kingdom through Crisis and more than 4 million meals to 1.4 million families in America through Feeding America."

“Must Be Santa” has long been one of my favorite Yuletide tunes, receiving heavy rotation on Mitch Miller's seminal 1961 Holiday Sing Along with Mitch LP. Together, Bob and Mitch and a big bowl of punch could easily get you through the holidays.