Bob Dylan Plays Santa Claus

Just because he's not young anymore doesn't mean Bob Dylan can't find ways to shock you.

According to Billboard.com, the Jewish folk singer is currently working on a Christmas album. That's right, the singer born Robert Zimmerman is in Jackson Browne's studio in Los Angeles recording tracks like "Must Be Santa," "Here Comes Santa Claus," "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas." No word on whether he'll cover the Kyle Broflovski "South Park" classic "It's Hard to Be a Jew on Christmas."

While it might seem strange that a Jewish artist is recording a Christmas album, the act is not without previous precedent. The fine music historians at Billboard pointed out that Neil Diamond and Phil Spector released yuletide albums and that Irving Berlin wrote the holiday standard "White Christmas." Dylan, who briefly became a born-again Christian from '79 to '81, would be the highest profile Jewish artist to release an intra-faith holiday album.

Should the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer release the album in time for the holidays, it would be his second release in '09. His previous album, Together Through Life, debuted at No. 1 last April.

Now if we could only get a Muslim artist to record a happy Hanukkah album.

Photo courtesy of Stoned59 via Flickr.