The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

On the ninth day of the Twelve Days of a Tony Bennett Christmas, Tuesday, December 22, 2015, the song of the day is “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.”

About This Song

Written by the songwriting team of J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, “Santa Claus is Coming To Town” had a spectacular debut. The song was first sung on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in November 1934. On the day after the broadcast, there were 100,000 orders for the sheet music; by Christmas, over 400,000 copies of the sheet music had been sold.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded this version of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” in 1968 for his first Christmas album, Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album; it was arranged and conducted by Robert Farnon.

Santa Claus Is Comin" To Town

Listen to Santa Claus Is Comin" To Town on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1968


“Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” as well as Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album, is available from iTunes.

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On the Sixth Day of a Tony Bennett Christmas

On the sixth day of a Tony Bennett Christmas, Tony sings us a great, jazzy version of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.”

Written by the songwriting team of J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, “Santa Claus is Coming To Town” had a spectacular debut. The song was first sung on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in November, 1934. On the day after the broadcast, there were 100,000 orders for the sheet music; by Christmas, over 400,000 copies of the sheet music had been sold.

Tony Bennett has recorded this song twice: first for the 1968 album Snowfall and again in 2004 for A Swingin’ Christmas. The arrangement is by Bill Holman and features Andy Snitzer on tenor sax.

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (feat. Count Basie Big Band)

Listen to Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (feat. Count Basie Big Band) on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Count Basie Big Band · 2008


“Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” as well as A Swinging’ Christmas is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

On the fifth day of a Tony Bennett Christmas, Wednesday, December 18, 2013, the song of the day is “Santa Claus is Coming To Town.”

About This Song

Written by the songwriting team of J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, “Santa Claus is Coming To Town” had a spectacular debut. The song was first sung on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in November, 1934. On the day after the broadcast, there were 100,000 orders for the sheet music; by Christmas, over 400,000 copies of the sheet music had been sold.

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About This Version

Today’s version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” is from Tony Bennett’s 2008 album A Swingin’ Christmas, featuring The Count Basie Big Band. This album is a favorite of ours, as it not only contains a number of great swinging Christmas songs, there are also some very nice ballad-type Christmas songs as well.

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“Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” as well as the album A Swinging’ Christmas, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

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Song of the Day: Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

On the First Day of Tony Bennett Christmas, Friday, December 14, 2012, the song of the day is Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.

Painting by Tony Bennett for the American Cancer Society Christmas card for 2010
Painting by Tony Bennett for the American Cancer Society Christmas card for 2010

About Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

This favorite Christmas song was written in 1934 by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie, who also wrote You Go To My Head, featured on The Beat of My Heart. It was first played on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in November 1934; on the very next day, over 100,000 orders for the sheet music were placed, with more than 400,000 copies sold by Christmas of that year.

About This Version

This version is from the delightful A Swingin’ Christmas with the Count Basie Big Band, released in 2008.  Produced by Phil Ramone, this song features the Quartet of Lee Musiker (p), Gray Sargent (d), Paul Langosch (b) and Harold Jones (d).

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (feat. Count Basie Big Band)

Listen to Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (feat. Count Basie Big Band) on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Count Basie Big Band · 2008

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, as well as the entire A Swingin’ Christmas with the Count Basie Big Band, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: You Go To My Head

The song of the day for Wednesday, December 5, 2012, is You Go To My Head.

About You Go To My Head

This song was written in 1938, with music by J. Fred Coots and lyrics by Haven Gillespie. In that year, it was recorded by both Teddy Wilson and Billie Holiday. The song has been a popular and jazz standard since it was written. Judy Garland performed it at her legendary 1961 Judy at Carnegie Hall concert. Other artists who have recorded the song include Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald.

About This Version

Today’s version is from Tony Bennett’s remarkable 1957 album The Beat Of My Heart. The album conceived and devised by Mr. Bennett and Ralph Sharon, who also arranged and conducted the album. Mr. Bennett was pulled together the finest drummers and percussionists from all over the world and featured them on each song on the album. You Go To My Head features Art Blakey, who was instrumental in defining the bebop style of drumming. Mr. Blakey founded the Jazz Messengers group, which he kept active for many years. He used this group to give young jazz musicians to perform and learn; graduates of The Jazz Messengers include Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard.

You Got To My Head, as well as the full album The Beat Of My Heart, is available from iTunes.

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