Santa Claus is Comin' To Town

• Date: 1934
• Composer: John Frederick Coots
• Period: Modern (1910-1949)

Review

After working as a song plugger on Tin Pan Alley and then as an accompanist for Sophie Tucker, J. Fred Coots teamed up with a variety of lyricists to write songs for Broadway and the Cotton Club. His most successful collaboration was with Haven Gillespie, with whom he wrote "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" in 1934. As first popularized by Bing Crosby, the song, with its simple, white note melody and plagal cadence verses, is instantly memorable. Coots later went on to write "You Go to My Head" with Gillespie and to form a nightclub team with comedian Jimmy Durante. ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide

Albums with Complete Performances of the Work

Title	Date
A Choral Christmas: The Gold Collection	2002
A Christmas Festival
A Gala Christmas in Vienna	1998
A New Century Christmas	2000
A Traditional Christmas: The Gold Collection	2002
A White Christmas with Grimethorpe
An American Christmas [Immergent]	2008
Annie's Songs	2004
Arthur Fiedler's Christmas Pops
Beyond Warped: Live Music Series	2005
Caliban Does Christmas	2005
Carousel Christmas	1999
Celebrating with Coca Cola: Celebrating the Holidays	2001
Celebrating with Coca Cola: Reason to Be Jolly	2001
Christmas	2009
Christmas
Christmas Album	2003
Christmas Around the World	2003
Christmas Bells of San Sylmar	2000
Christmas Fanfare	1993
Christmas Favorites	2008
Christmas Favorites	1999
Christmas Favourites with Four Horns
Christmas Festival [Polygram]	1970
Christmas Goes Baroque, Vol. 2	1994
Christmas Treasures, Vol. 5	1997
Christmas at the Pops: Greatest Hits
Christmas with Perry Como	1997
Christmas with the Norman Luboff Choir
Christmas with the University of Texas at Austin Trombone Choir
Classical Christmas	2000
Comfort and Joy	2002
Follow That Star	2003
Gloria!	2001
Greatest Hits of Christmas Past	2001
Holiday Cheer	2006
Holiday Favorites [St. Clair]	1999
Holiday Gifts	2002
Holiday Pops	2003
Home for the Holdiays	2006
Hymns, Carols and Songs about Snow
I'll Be Home for Christmas [Decca]	2007
Longwood Gardens Christmas	1996
Merry Country Christmas [Legacy]	2000
Merry a Holiday Journey	2006
My Christmas
My Christmas
My Christmas	2009
O Little Town of Bethlehem featuring Little Drummer Boy	1978
Pick It Up: Jazz Tune Arrangements	2007
Pops Christmas Party	1959
Reader's Digest: A Glorious Christmas	1992
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town [Premiere]	1998
Santa Claus is Coming to Town [FHE]	1996
Santa's Helpers	2002
Schatz, Gruber, Pierpont and others
Signature Series: A Hometown Christmas, Vol. 2	2003
Silent Night (Box Set)	1999
Surviving Christmas	2004
The Best Of Christmas [Madacy Box]	1996
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year [Reader's Digest]	1999
Trombones Under the Tree	1991
We Three Kings	2003
What If Mozart Wrote "White Christmas"	2009
What If Mozart Wrote "White Christmas"	2009
What if Mozart Wrote 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus'
White Christmas: A Christmas Festival [1970]	1970