Recordings
The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and His Orchestra on October 24, 1934 (Decca 264A) [6] featuring Tom Stacks on vocal, the version shown in the Variety charts of December 1934. The song was a sheet music hit, reaching number 1. The song was also recorded for Victor Records (catalog No. 25145A) on September 26, 1935, by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra with vocals by Cliff Weston and Edythe Wright. [7]
The song is a traditional Christmas standard and has been covered by numerous recording artists. Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters reached the Billboard charts briefly in 1947 [8] with it.
1970s to 1990s
In 1970, Rankin-Bass produced Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town , an hour-long animated TV film based on the song, with Fred Astaire narrating the origin of Santa Claus. The same year, the Jackson 5 included the song on their best-selling album Jackson 5 Christmas Album . The Jackson 5 version would chart 50 years later on the Billboard 100 at #33. In 1971, the Partridge Family included the song on A Partridge Family Christmas Card . An eccentric 1972 live recording by Joseph Spence has been described as "a performance for the ages" by music critic Peter Margasak. [12] [13] The Carpenters released the song as a single in 1974.
A rock version by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band was recorded on December 12, 1975, at C. W. Post College in Brookville, New York, by Record Plant engineers Jimmy Iovine and Thom Panunzio. [14] [15] This version borrows the chorus refrain from the 1963 recording by the Crystals. [16] It was first released as a track on the 1981 Sesame Street compilation album, In Harmony 2 , as well as on a 1981 promotional, radio-only, 7-inch single (Columbia AE7 1332). [17] [18] Four years later, it was released as the B-side to "My Hometown", a single off the Born in the U.S.A. album. [19] Springsteen's rendition of the song has received radio airplay perennially at Christmastime for years; it appeared on Billboard magazine's Hot Singles Recurrents chart each year from 2002 to 2009 due to seasonal air play. Live performances of the song often saw the band encouraging the audience to sing some of the lyrics with—or in place of—the band's vocalists (usually the line "you'd better be good for goodness sake", and occasionally the key line "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" as well). Sometimes, concert crowds would sing along with the entire song, and the band, who were known to encourage this behavior for the song, would do nothing to dissuade those audiences from doing so, instead welcoming the crowds' enthusiasm. This version remains a Springsteen concert favorite during the months of November and December (often concluding the show), and the band is among the few that keep it in their roster of songs during the holidays.
In 1977, an instrumental version was recorded by Snuff Garrett and his 50 Guitars.
Australian ABBA tribute act Björn Again released a version in 1992 which reached number 55 on the UK Singles Chart. [20] Other well-known versions of this song include Mariah Carey from the album Merry Christmas (1994) and the Pointer Sisters version off the album A Very Special Christmas , also borrowing from the Crystals' arrangement. [21] Andy Williams performed the song on his album I Still Believe in Santa Claus , which was released on October 1, 1990. [22]
