Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
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"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.
The original version of it was recorded on September 26, 1935, by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra [1]. 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 television film 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:
- All 4 One
- Gene Autry
- The Beach Boys
- David Benoit
- Tony Bennett
- Michael Bolton
- Boston Pops Orchestra
- Dave Brubeck
- The California Raisins
- Mariah Carey
- The Carpenters
- Ray Charles
- The Cheetah Girls
- Richard Clayderman
- Rosemary Clooney
- Nat King Cole
- Perry Como
- Ray Conniff Singers
- The Covered Sleigh Band
- Bing Crosby
- The Crystals
- Neil Diamond
- Tommy Dorsey
- Hilary Duff
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Fourplay
- Girl Authority
- Vince Gill
- Natalie Grant
- Merle Haggard
- Woody Herman
- Chris Isaak and Stevie Nicks
- Burl Ives
- The Jackson Five
- The Judds
- Lynyrd Skynyrd
- The Manhattan Transfer
- Johnny Mathis
- Jimmy McGriff
- Michael Martin Murphy
- The Oak Ridge Boys
- Dolly Parton
- The Partridge Family
- The Pointer Sisters
- Alvino Rey with the King Sisters
- Emma Roberts
- The Rubber Band
- Frank Sinatra (including a duet with Cyndi Lauper)
- Slade
- Kate Smith
- Bruce Springsteen
- George Strait
- The Supremes
- James Taylor
- The Temptations
- Randy Travis
- Dave Valentin
- Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons
- Lawrence Welk
- Wynonna
- Luis Miguel
- State The Obvious
Mariah Carey recorded her version of the song for her holiday album Merry Christmas (1994), and in 2005 (see 2005 in music), a re-recording co-produced by Jermaine Dupri was included on the album's anniversary re-release and released as a CD single with the purchase of the 2005 DVD of the 1970s film Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.
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[edit] Trivia
- Lead singer of Aerosmith, Steven Tyler guest starred in Lizzie McGuire in the episode Xtreame Xmas as Santa Claus and himself singing Santa Claus Is Coming to Town on Lizzie's float.
- In Futurama episode Xmas Story, it is parodied as "Santa Claus is Gunning You Down"
- Muppet Family Christmas features the Muppet Babies singing this song.
- On The Slammer, Outrage, a young band, performed this song and were soon released.
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
[edit] See also
