The Music of Christmas – Day 13: “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”

“Santa Claus is Coming to Town”
By Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

This is one of those Christmas songs that when I was a kid I had to hear during the holidays or else I didn’t feel like it was truly Christmas. Back in those days I was at the mercy of the radio. I didn’t own this on a record or cassette, so I’d have to hope I’d hear it whenever the DJs decided to play it.

I love this song because it’s a live recording. It’s got energy that is hard to capture in the studio. It’s raw, it’s powerful, and it’s just plain fun. Bruce’s voice is giving out and he doesn’t care. The crowd is feeding off the joyous mold and sending it back to the band. Everybody is loving what’s going on.

I didn’t know this until today, but yesterday was the 45th anniversary of the recording. This was recorded December 12th, 1975 at C. W. Post College in New York. Seven years later it saw its first official release, and it’s been a staple of radio airwaves every holiday since.

The fact it’s a live recording also leads me to the one thing I don’t like about it — that dang last note. I don’t know who was on the piano during the song, but that last note is wrong. It’s a step too high, in musical terms. I’ve made the same mistake hundreds of times when I played, but it was captured clearly for time perpetual. Part of me would love to go in there and edit the pitch of that one note somehow and then it wouldn’t bother me. But I suppose one small imperfection is a small price to pay for this wonderful, energetic holiday song.

Tomorrow – potential musical sacrilege.