"Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)" is a popular

Christmas song Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject m ...

written and originally performed by

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...

, with music composed by

Oakley Haldeman Oakley W. Haldeman (July 17, 1909 – December 17, 1986) was an American songwriter (" Here Comes Santa Claus"), composer, author and the general manager for a music publisher. He joined ASCAP in 1949, and his other popular-song compositions inc ...

. Autry's original recording (in which he pronounces Santa Claus as "Santy Claus") was a top-10 hit on the pop and country charts; the song would go on to be covered many times in the subsequent decades.

History

Autry got the idea for the song after riding his horse in the 1946 Santa Claus Lane Parade (now the

Hollywood Christmas Parade The Hollywood Christmas Parade (formerly the Hollywood Santa Parade and Santa Claus Lane Parade) is an annual American parade held on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It follows a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) route al ...

) in Los Angeles, during which crowds of spectators chanted, ''"Here comes

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

"''. This inspired him to write a song that Haldeman set to music. Autry's lyrics combined two veins of the Christmas tradition, the mythology of Santa Claus and the Christian origin of the holiday (most explicitly in its mention of the nativity promise of "peace on Earth" to those who "

follow the light Follow the Light may refer to: * ''Follow the Light'' (Bad Boys Blue album), 1999 * ''Follow the Light'' (Molly Nilsson album), 2010 See also * '' Follow the Lights'', an EP by Ryan Adams and The Cardinals {{dab ...

"). A demo recording was made by singer/guitarist Johnny Bond, whose recording made use of ice cubes to mimic the sound of jingling sleigh bells. This inspired the use of real sleigh bells in Autry's own recording of the song. Autry first recorded the song on August 28, 1947; released as a single by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

, It became a No. 5 country and No. 9 pop hit. Autry performed the song in his 1949 movie '' The Cowboy and the Indians''. He re-recorded it again in 1953 for Columbia, and once more in 1957 for his own Challenge Records label, which released it on more than one album that year. Other artists to record the song include

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...

(1949),

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

and the

Andrews Sisters The Andrews Sisters were an American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (July 6, 1911 – May 8, 1967), soprano Maxene Anglyn Andrews (Januar ...

(recorded May 10, 1949),

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

(1957), the

Ray Conniff Singers Joseph Raymond Conniff (November 6, 1916 – October 12, 2002) was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s. Biography Conniff was born November 6, 1916 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, United St ...

(1959),

Keely Smith Dorothy Jacqueline Keely (March 9, 1928The reference work ''The Encyclopedia of Native Music: More Than a Century of Recordings from Wax Cylinder to the Internet'' gives Smith's date of birth as March 9, 1932. – December 16, 2017), profession ...

(1960), David Seville and His Chipmunks (1961), Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans (1963), Hank Thompson (1964), in excerpt by

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...

as part of their song " Child of Winter" (1974),

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

(1979),

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting '' The Glen Campbell Good ...

RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960; stylized as RuPaul) is an American drag queen, television personality, actor, musician, and model. Best known for producing, hosting, and judging the reality competition series '' RuPaul's Drag Race ...

The Wiggles The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney in 1991. The group are currently composed of Anthony Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce and Tsehay Hawkins, as well as supporting members Evie Ferris, John Pearce, C ...

(1997),

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer o ...

(2006),

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

(2009),

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the w ...

(2010),

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

(2011), the '' Glee'' cast (2013),

Anna Kendrick Anna Cooke Kendrick (born August 9, 1985) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including a Satellite Award, five Teen Choice Awards, three MTV Movie Awards, and nominations for an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award a ...

(2015), and

Pentatonix Pentatonix (abbreviated PTX) is an American a cappella group from Arlington, Texas, currently consisting of vocalists Mitch Grassi, Scott Hoying, Kirstin Maldonado, Kevin Olusola, and Matt Sallee. Characterized by their pop-style arrangem ...

(2018). In 1988, "Here Comes Santa Claus" was featured in ''Very Merry Christmas Songs'' which is part of the '' Disney Sing Along Songs'' collection. The song was also featured prominently in the popular 1989 Christmas movie ''

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ''National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'' is a 1989 American Christmas film, Christmas comedy film and the third installment in National Lampoon (magazine), ''National Lampoon'' magazine's National Lampoon's Vacation (film series), ''Vacation'' f ...

'' during the climax towards the end of the film. The version of the song used was Autry's 1957 ''Challenge Records'' recording.

Chart performance (Gene Autry)

References

{{Authority control Songs about Santa Claus 1947 songs 1947 singles American Christmas songs The Andrews Sisters songs Bing Crosby songs Bob Dylan songs Elvis Presley songs Glen Campbell songs Gene Autry songs Songs written by Gene Autry Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans songs Song recordings produced by Phil Spector Song recordings with Wall of Sound arrangements