Decided that today was the day for my annual listen to Dylan's Christmas in the Heart. Realised that since I only play the album once a year I listen with a quiet ferocity which is very useful indeed since the lovely details of the arrangements repay that kind of close attention. Dylan seems to be drawing on the cliches of American Yuletide music but he does so with such wonderful invention that nothing is actually cliched, nothing is glib.
When I first listened to the album a few years back I found it a wee bit difficult to accept Dylan growling out the more traditional material, like Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and couldn't help but wonder if he was treating the carols in some kind of ironic manner. Now it's obvious he isn't, and that those pieces are genuinely meant, and the listener is meant to just mentally sing along with appropriate joy. And that's what I was doing today.
No comments:
Post a Comment