Today’s classic Christmas song of the day is “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” It was written in 1934 by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The song was first recorded by banjo player Harry Reser and His Orchestra in 1934, but became a huge hit when recorded by Eddie Cantor later that year.
Tons of artists have recorded “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” over the years, including Michael Bolton, Michael Bublé, Mariah Carey, the Carpenters, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, Neil Diamond, Bill Evans, Chris Isaak, Mitch Miller, Pentatonix, the Pointer Sisters, Frank Sinatra, Straight No Chaser, the Supremes, the Temptations, and Andy Williams. There was even a Rankin-Bass animated Santa Claus is Coming to Town Christmas special that first aired in 1970, with the title song sung by a stop-motion Fred Astaire.
Some of the most popular versions include those by the Crystals (on Phil Spector’s legendary A Christmas Gift for You album), the Jackson 5, and, in a live version recorded in 1975, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band. I won’t say much more about this one, just get out of the way and let you listen to whichever version you prefer.
By the way, here’s a picture of little Mikey some 60 or so summers ago when my grandparents took me to visit Santa Claus Land in Indiana. That’s me and Jolly Old Saint Nick together during the off season; they apparently didn’t have a “no shirt” policy back then!
