Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

Written by	J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie
Date	1934
Publisher	EMI Feist Catalog Inc.; Gillespie Haven Music

Santa Claus is Coming 1975 Peter Alexander

"Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (also known as "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town") is a song that found immediate success after its performance on Eddie Cantor's radio show in 1934, instantly selling hundreds of thousands of copies of the sheet music. It has since become a Christmas staple, having been recorded by many artists, including a hit version by The Jackson 5 in 1970, and adapted as a Rankin/Bass television special that same year.

The song was recorded twice by the cast of Sesame Street, first by Grover as part of a Christmas carol medley and later by Big Bird and the cast.

In A Muppet Family Christmas, the Muppet Babies puppets (consisting of Baby Piggy, Baby Kermit, Baby Fozzie, Baby Rowlf, Baby Scooter, Baby Animal, and Baby Gonzo) sing the song in a home movie of their first Christmas.

A 1963 recording by the Crystals was used in A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa.

Miss Piggy and Tony Bennett performed the song live, during the 2016 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

References

• In the classic Reindeer variety show sketch, Dasher relays to his crew how busy Santa is to deal with the lack of snowfall. One mention of his making a list and checking it twice is answered with "gonna find out who's naughty or nice" by the other reindeer.

• In Episode 0544 of Sesame Street, Oscar tells Susan and Gordon he's making a list and checking it twice; the couple jokingly sings the song's next verse.

Audio releases

Medley version (Grover)

• Merry Christmas from Sesame Street (1975)
• A Sesame Street Christmas (1995)

Standalone version (Big Bird)

• Sesame Street Christmas Sing-Along (1984)
• Christmas on Sesame Street (1986)