Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Year: 1934

Written By: J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie

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Santa Claus is coming to town has long been a favorite with adults and children alike. It fills children with hope every season. They know that Santa has out his list and is checking it twice to see who is naughty and nice. All good little boys and girls will find presents under their trees on Christmas morning.

The song is two-fold though. It benefits the parents and the children. Parents everywhere use the song as an incentive for their children to be extra good during the holidays. Santa Claus is coming to town also introduced the famous list that Santa checks every year to see who has been good and who has been naughty. Whether it is in America or Canada or anywhere in between every child wants to be on that list as a child that was nice all year.

The much loved song is sometimes changed to say Santa Claus is comin to town instead of Santa Claus is Coming to town according to the artist that is recording it. The Christmas song was originally written by John Fredrick Coots and Haven Gillespie and first sang on Eddie Cantors radio show I Nov. 1934. Santa Claus is coming to town was an instant success with orders for the sheet music reaching 100,000 the very next day. The popular song had sold 400,000 copies by that Christmas. The song had already started to work its way into people's hearts and hadn't even been officially recorded yet.

The first known recorded version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town was by banjoist Harry Reser and his band on October 24, 1934. Tom Stackes was the vocalist for this version that hit number one quickly on the sheet music charts. The next time the song was recorded was on September 26, 1935 by Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra.

After living in the hearts of everyone for many years and being, one of the top favorites of all time at Christmas the beloved Christmas carol was made into an hour-long animated TV special in 1970. This served to firmly embed the cartoon and the song in people's hearts and minds forever. The story was pretty much the same as the song with the voice of Fred Astaire telling the story of how Santa Claus came to be.

There is a long list of stars that have recorded Santa Claus is coming to town over the years. Among them are such well-known names as Aerosmith, Allan Jackson, and The Chipmunks, the most recent being Miley Cyrus. Whomever you listen to singing the Christmas carol you can be assured that it will be on everyone's lips this holiday season.