85 years ago today, November 21st, 1934, Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town was first sung on Eddie Cantor’s radio show. It was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie and they had trouble convincing anyone to record it because most artists considered it a kids song. Coots worked on Eddie Cantor’s show, and asked him to perform it on air. At first he too was reluctant, until Eddie’s wife convinced him to sing it. It became an instant hit with orders for 500,000 copies of sheet music and more than 30,000 records sold within 24 hours. It’s now a seasonal standard and the third most successful Christmas song ever, outsold only by Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer and White Christmas. Over the past 85 years Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town has been covered by over 200 recording artists, including the well-known hits sung by Bing Crosby, The Four Seasons, and the version that currently gets the most airplay on radio, Bruce Springstreen’s live version which you can watch below.
Happy Birthday to “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town”
