"Here Comes Peter Cottontail" is a popular secular

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

song composed in 1949, by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins. They also wrote "

Frosty the Snowman "Frosty the Snowman" is a popular Christmas song written by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson, and first recorded by Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys in 1950 and later recorded by Jimmy Durante. It was written after the success of A ...

" in 1950.

Mervin Shiner Mervin James Shiner (February 20, 1921 – October 23, 2023) was an American country singer, songwriter, and guitar player, known for his honky-tonk style. Biography Mervin James Shiner was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on February 20, 1921. ...

was the first person to record the song, on Decca Records in 1950. It reached #8 on

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streamin ...

. The name '

Peter Cottontail Peter Cottontail is a name temporarily assumed by a fictional rabbit named Peter Rabbit in the works of Thornton Burgess, an author from Sandwich, Massachusetts In 1910, when Burgess began his ''Old Mother West Wind'' series, the cast of anim ...

' was used by a character in a 1914 Thornton Burgess book, but may not have been previously used to refer to the

Easter Bunny The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is a folkloric figure and symbol of Easter, depicted as a rabbit—sometimes dressed with clothes—bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the "Easter Hare" ori ...

. Due to the immense popularity of Gene Autry's Christmas songs "

Here Comes Santa Claus "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)" is a popular Christmas song written and originally performed by Gene Autry, with music composed by Oakley Haldeman. Autry's original recording (in which he pronounces Santa Claus as "Santy Cl ...

" and " Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", Nelson and Rollins asked Autry to record their song. His 1950 version was on the Columbia label and peaked at number 3 on the U.S ''Billboard''

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...

chart and at number 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Nelson and Rollins also wrote non-Easter lyrics to the tune that later appeared on the

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

Walt Disney Records Walt Disney Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from The Walt Disney Company's motion picture studios, television series, theme parks, and traditional studio albums produced by its ...

''Peter Cottontail Plus Other Funny Bunnies and their Friends''.

Chart performance

Gene Autry

Jimmy Wakely

Johnnie Lee Wills

References

1950 singles Easter songs Songs about rabbits and hares Gene Autry songs Jimmy Wakely songs Johnnie Lee Wills songs Songs written by Walter E. "Jack" Rollins 1949 songs Songs written by Steve Nelson (songwriter) {{1940s-song-stub