Bruce Springsteen’s Santa Claus Is Coming Got It’s Start in Boston!
Before we share I must ask this question: Did you know that Bruce Springsteen’s Santa Claus Is Coming To Town got it’s start in Boston?
We’ll get the bottom of that in a minute.
How Does Holiday Music Affect You?
As we get get close to the big day, one thing is for sure, holiday music has an affect on all of us. When we first hear it, it may create a little anxiety, reminding us of the all of the hustle and bustle, or the cost, or the travel or the family.
But for me, sometime around or after Thanksgiving, the spirit of the season hits me. The holiday hits turbo charge it.
Dad Santa
Christmas morning, I would wake up and see Santa’s boot-prints in the snow on our deck. The boot-prints looked oddly like my Dad’s duck boot-prints, but I played along.
When my kids were at the right young age of 7 and 5, I pulled the greatest Dad-Santa trick ever. Each Christmas Eve, we’d leave for Rhode Island to celebrate with family. One year, I stayed behind, saying I had to work, and I’ll be there in time for dinner.
Then, I went to work. I secretly rented a actual Santa sleigh and had it delivered right into my garage. I filled it with the toys, and wrapped it with flashing Christmas lights. So that night when we came home from our Christmas dinner, what did eight year old Jordan, and five year old Matthew see? As the electric garage door slowly opened, they witnessed a spectacle of flashing lights, on Santa’s sleigh full of toys! As we got out of the car, the kids went running to the sleigh, to find a note from Santa:
“Jordan and Matthew, I was told you BOTH were very good this year. Please watch my sleigh for me. I’ll be back later with my reindeer to pick it up. You can have these toys now, and more are coming! Love, Santa.”
Now, Matthew who was five, was convinced that HE was the luckiest kid on the planet to get a pre-visit from Santa, himself. Jordan however, was more skeptical. It took much convincing from Matt, that yes in fact, Santa had arrived.
I don’t think they remember that magical visit, but I will never forget it.
Santa Springsteen
One of the most played, most popular holiday hits is the LIVE version of Bruce Springsteen’s Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. What you may not know, is that it got it’s start right here in Boston! The original version came out in 1934, and was covered by dozens of artists over the years. Bruce decided to play it LIVE in 1975 during one of his concerts in New York.
According to faroutmagazine.com:
During his December 12th concert at C.W. Post College in Brooklyn, New York, Springsteen got everyone into the Christmas spirit by unleashing what would become his go-to holiday classic – a rendition of ‘Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town’.
But what most people DON’T know, is reportedly, the FIRST time he played HIS version LIVE, was TEN DAYS BEFORE, here in Boston at the Music Hall! He got such a great response, he played it again at the college show ten days later on December 12.
According to Far Out, Born to Run engineers Jimmy Iovine and Thom Panunzio recorded the December 12 performance. The recording sat unused for over half a decade, eventually making its first appearance on the Sesame Street compilation In Harmony 2 in 1981.
Here’s Bruce performing the classic back in 1978 in Houston!
