Friday 24 December 2010

"YOU'D BETTER WATCH OUT..."


Oh! You better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I'm telling you why

Santa Claus is coming to town.


He's making a list
Checking it twice
Gonna find out who's naughty or nice
Santa Claus is coming to town.


He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!


So! You better watch out
Oh! You better watch out
You better not cry You better not pout,
I'm telling you why,
Santa Claus is coming
Santa Claus is coming
Santa Claus is coming to town!


The song Santa Claus is Coming to Town was written by J Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie and was first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934. It became an instant hit with orders for 100,000 copies of sheet music the next day and more than 400,000 copies sold by Christmas.

The line illustrations of Santa Claus above are the work of Thomas Nast who not only helped shape the American (and eventually worldwide) image of Father Christmas, but was also responsible for far less jolly imagery in his capacity as an exceptional chronicler of the American Civil War

In posting this popular ballad and the accompanying illustrations, I wish you, dear reader,

A VERY HAPPY
CHRISTMAS EVE
!


11 comments:

Suzanne said...

And a very Merry Christmas to you Brian and David!
surec: brandy butter gone sour

Boll Weavil said...

...Or a Happy Scrooge Day as we consider it ! I feel the 1970 version coming on !

Steven Hartley said...

Hope you will a wonderful Christmas, Brian!

Arts and Crafts said...

Do you think Mr. Klaus could bring me a job ??? Last year the Wise Men only brought me 3 months of job... They left me a note saying that the crisis was escaping to their magic...;).

Merry Christmas to you and David, and to all the friends of this blog!!!!

Sheila said...

I love the anticipation of today. After all the commercial build-up, which is far too early, Christmas really starts on Christmas Eve in the afternoon with the 3:00 pm broadcast of the Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols. Pot of tea and mince pies at the ready ...

Jason Tammemägi said...

Happy Christmas, Mr.S!

Brian Sibley said...

Suzanne - Thank you! (And I hope your brandy butter is well up to snuff!)

Boll - And a very merry Marleymass, too!

Steven - Thank you for following my blog, I hope you and your family have a great holiday!

Eudora - I trust Mr Klaus will arrange something better for you this year... Wishing you well, dear friend.

Sheila - 'Anticipation': that's the word! I'm glad that, at long last, you will be warm at Christmas and hope you and Roger have a lovely day!

Jason - And the same to you, Mr T! :)

Phil said...

I hope everyone is tracking Santa - http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html - last time I looked, he was in Kazakhstan.

As well as the tracker, there are videos:

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/video.html

Merry Xmas!

Brian Sibley said...

Thanks, Phil! His next stop when I checked a few minutes ago was due to be Mount Everest! He's definitely getting closer!

scb said...

Merry Christmas, Brian and David! Thank you for another wonderful year of blogposts!

(And as far as "You'd better watch out" goes, when my cousin would say to her little girl, "Julie, behave..." Julie would reply, "I'm being hayve..." So'm I. I'm being hayve...)

Brian Sibley said...

SCB – I'm glad to hear it! And I hope you are on Santa's "good" list!