You’d Better Watch Out

The Christmas song “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” was written by James “Haven” Gillespie with music by John Coots and first performed on Eddie Cantor’s radio program in 1924. Cantor (the son of Russian Jews) commissioned the Christmas song as Gillespie was mourning his brother’s recent death. At first Gillespie was too grief-stricken to write a happy holiday song, but a subway ride to his childhood neighborhood inspired him; he recalled his mother’s warnings to him and his brother that Santa was watching.