Bob Dylan Must Be Santa Christmas Song

I rang my Dad after a hectic day at York Christmas Market on Saturday and we hadn’t got far into the conversation before he excitedly quizzed me on whether or not I’d seen Bob Dylan on YouTube.

Well, yes of course I have, but I definitely hadn’t seen Dylan’s new Christmas song and hurriedly typed away into my netbook as quick as I could.

When my Dad said ‘it’s absolutely…’ I naturally cut him of in my brain with the word ‘awful’, as Dylan is much maligned for most of his new material, I guess expectedly so given the great depth of quality work behind him (at this point if the usual Neil Young/Leonard Cohen acolytes want to come out of the woodwork and start a ‘who’s better’ debate I’m not interested as I like all three and I’m more than aware that Dylan’s written as much shite as he has infinitely brilliant songs).

Anyway, I was suddenly very interested and surprised when my Dad uttered the word ‘brilliant’ in place of ‘awful’ and tapped the side of my machine as YouTube took a full geological epoch to load.

But the wait was worth it and Dylan’s Christmas song – Must Be Santa – must be one of the best modern Christmas songs for many years.

My Dad might just be right as well, brilliant as it is, it probably needs someone else to cover it before it could ever be commercially successful, but as with some of Dylan’s best writing, it just takes a slightly different take on it to make it an instant sensation.