Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
John Frederick Coots
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Browse piano sheets by John Frederick Coots on Zen Virtual Piano. Coots was born in New York City, where his mother taught him the piano. After leaving high school he got a job at a bank on Wall Street. In 1914, though, he heard a professional music plugger selling new songs in a music shop and decided to change careers. He started in music as a pianist and stock boy in a shop and had his first song published by 1917. A Wall Street bank job, beside a first song published by 1917, may suggest a working life that changed direction early on. He then went into vaudeville, playing piano and writing songs tailored to particular performers, among them Sophie Tucker; UPI adds that he also played piano in nightclubs. Sally, Irene, and Mary, a 1922 Broadway show with lyrics by Raymond Klages, carried his music; under contract to the producers Lee and J.J. Shubert he wrote scores for many Broadway shows, among them Artists and Models of 1924 and 1925. He married Marjorie Decker Jennings in Manhattan on February 18, 1924. A first song published by 1917, beside Broadway scores for the Shuberts in 1924 and 1925, may suggest a path from a single published song to theatre work. Sons o' Guns, a 1929 hit, was his last Broadway score, and Coots left New York for Hollywood. Among his other songs were Time Will Tell, I Wonder Why and I Still Get a Thrill. Songs written for particular vaudeville performers, beside a last Broadway score followed by a move to Hollywood, may suggest a working life spent writing for different kinds of stage and audience. Haven Gillespie handed him the lyrics to Santa Claus Is Coming to Town in 1934, and Coots had the outline of the tune worked out within ten minutes. Coots offered it to Eddie Cantor; Cantor featured the number on his radio show in November, and it was an instant success. Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town was the biggest success of either man's career and became one of the biggest sellers in American history. A melody sketched in ten minutes that went on to sell so widely suggests how little a lasting song depends on the time spent. Words that arrived first and a melody sketched afterwards suggest a partnership built on quick, practical exchange.
Browse piano sheets by John Frederick Coots on Zen Virtual Piano.
Coots was born in New York City, where his mother taught him the piano. After leaving high school he got a job at a bank on Wall Street. In 1914, though, he heard a professional music plugger selling new songs in a music shop and decided to change careers. He started in music as a pianist and stock boy in a shop and had his first song published by 1917. A Wall Street bank job, beside a first song published by 1917, may suggest a working life that changed direction early on.
He then went into vaudeville, playing piano and writing songs tailored to particular performers, among them Sophie Tucker; UPI adds that he also played piano in nightclubs. Sally, Irene, and Mary, a 1922 Broadway show with lyrics by Raymond Klages, carried his music; under contract to the producers Lee and J.J. Shubert he wrote scores for many Broadway shows, among them Artists and Models of 1924 and 1925. He married Marjorie Decker Jennings in Manhattan on February 18, 1924. A first song published by 1917, beside Broadway scores for the Shuberts in 1924 and 1925, may suggest a path from a single published song to theatre work.
Sons o' Guns, a 1929 hit, was his last Broadway score, and Coots left New York for Hollywood. Among his other songs were Time Will Tell, I Wonder Why and I Still Get a Thrill. Songs written for particular vaudeville performers, beside a last Broadway score followed by a move to Hollywood, may suggest a working life spent writing for different kinds of stage and audience.
Haven Gillespie handed him the lyrics to Santa Claus Is Coming to Town in 1934, and Coots had the outline of the tune worked out within ten minutes. Coots offered it to Eddie Cantor; Cantor featured the number on his radio show in November, and it was an instant success. Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town was the biggest success of either man's career and became one of the biggest sellers in American history. A melody sketched in ten minutes that went on to sell so widely suggests how little a lasting song depends on the time spent. Words that arrived first and a melody sketched afterwards suggest a partnership built on quick, practical exchange.
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John Frederick Coots
Common questions
John Frederick Coots was a songwriter and composer born in New York City.
It is a 1934 song with music by Coots and lyrics by Haven Gillespie that became one of the biggest sellers in American history.
After Gillespie brought him the lyrics, Coots developed the outline of the melody in just ten minutes.
Sons o' Guns, a 1929 hit, was the last Broadway score he wrote before he left for Hollywood.