Everything about Santa Claus Is Comin To Town totally explained
"
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (sometimes with
Coming changed to
Comin') is a
Christmas song. It was written by
J. Fred Coots and
Haven Gillespie, and was first sung on
Eddie Cantor's radio show in November
1934.It became an instant hit with orders for 100,000 copies of sheet music the next day and over 400,000 copies sold by Christmas.
There was a 1970's television special of the
same name.
The lyrics of the song have been a source for jokes for years. A
Calvin and Hobbes strip implied that if Santa "sees you when you're sleeping [and] knows when you're awake," he must be a "
CIA spook." The movie has Santa reminding his elves to write "the list" carefully, because (following the song) he'll be "checking it twice".
Recordings
The earliest known recorded version of the song was performed by George Hall and the Hotel Taft Orchestra (featuring Sonny Schuyler on vocals) in
1934. It was mostly an instrumental except for a 35-second vocal by Schuyler. The song was also recorded on
September 26 1935, by
Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra
(External Link
). Many believe that
Benny Goodman was the first to record the song, but in 1935 Goodman actually recorded the
Johnny Mercer tune, "Santa Claus Came In The Spring." Goodman never recorded "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town."
The song is a
traditional standard at
Christmas time, and has been covered by numerous recording artists. In
1970 Rankin-Bass produced an hour-long animated
television special based on the song, with narrator
Fred Astaire telling the original story of
Santa Claus. Artists that have made notable covers of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" include the following:
The Smothers Brothers' version, found on their album, "Think Ethnic!", is only twenty-five seconds long, and ends with Tom Smothers' singing, "Santa Claus is dead" instead of the title.
In 2004, indie rock band
The Kris Special wrote and recorded a spoof called "Santa Claus is Comin' to Motown" for inclusion on a Christmas compilation.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Santa Claus Is Comin To Town'.
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