Phillips Brooks & Lewis Redner / Arrangement Bob Dylan / 2:18
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar (?)
Phil Upchurch: guitar
David Hidalgo: guitar
Donnie Herron: steel guitar
Patrick Warren: piano, organ, celesta
Tony Garnier: bass
George G. Receli: cymbals
Amanda Barrett, Bill Cantos, Randy Crenshaw, Abby DeWald, Nicole Eva Emery, Walt Harrah, and Robert Joyce: backup vocals
Recording Studio
Groove Masters, Santa Monica, California: May 2009
Technical Team
Producer: Jack Frost (Bob Dylan)
Sound Engineer: David Bianco
“O’ Little Town of Bethlehem” was written by Phillips Brooks, an Episcopal priest, rector of Trinity Church in Boston, and an ardent abolitionist during the Civil War. This poem was inspired by a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and a visit to Bethlehem in 1865. Brooks wrote the poem three years later, and his organist, Lewis Redner, added the music on Christmas Eve. The following day the song was performed by the children’s chorus of Trinity Church. Brooks wrote, “I remember standing in the old church in Bethlehem, close to the spot where Jesus was born, when the whole church was ringing hour after hour with splendid hymns of praise to God, how again and again it seemed as if I could hear voices I knew well, telling each other of the Wonderful Night of the Savior’s birth.”165
Initially the poem was simply called “St. Louis” and was only later renamed “O’ Little Town of Bethlehem.” This carol has been recorded many times. Among the adaptations known worldwide are those by Frank Sinatra (1957), Elvis Presley (1957), the Staple Singers (1962), Willie Nelson (1979), and Dolly Parton (1990). Dylan’s version, which concludes Christmas in the Heart, is exceptionally solemn. The song demonstrates a perfect understanding, if not perfect communion, between the greatest American songwriter and the celebration of Christmas, on which the Christian tradition has been based for over two thousand years.
What better way for Dylan to end his thirty-fourth album than by singing “O’ Little Town of Bethlehem”? In his interpretation, Dylan once again surprises with an interpretation that leaves little doubt about his personal convictions. In October 2009, when Bill Flanagan asked, “You sure deliver that song like a true believer,” Dylan replied, “Well, I am a true believer.”167 His version probably equals those of Sinatra, Elvis, or Nat King Cole with its obvious sincerity. Accompanied by brilliant musicians and backup vocalists, he concludes his album with a moving “amen.”