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Haven Gillespie, songwriter: reference sources (web and print); selected songs; recordings, videos; miscellany

Haven Gillespie, who wrote the lyrics for hundreds of songs over a thirty year career from the twenties to the fifties, claimed that his comfortable retirement was made possible solely by the royalties from "Santa Clause Is Coming to Town." Some sources have called it the most recorded song in the history of American popular music. Gillespie was also one of the few successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters to stick closely to his roots in Covington, Kentucky where he resided throughout his life traveling to New York or other locations only when needed for professional reasons. He was perhaps the only, songwriter to remain so thoroughly a hometown boy.

Gillespie's repertoire of lyrics spanned a wide range of styles from the novelty song ("Santa Claus is Coming to Town") to the bluesy saloon song "You Go to My Head," to the "neo-folk song, "That Lucky Old Sun". He collaborated with over twenty composers including J. Fred Coots, Mitchell Parish, Victor Young, and Richard Whiting.

"Composer and lyricist team J. F. Coots and Haven Gillespie may be well known for having written well over 700 songs in their career, but no one could have guessed that a “little children’s song” would be their most well remembered creation ever. Gillespie had written the lyrics for the songs several years earlier after hearing his son exclaim excitedly that he was going right to bed because Santa Clause was coming to town. It wasn’t until 1934 Gillespie brought Coots the lyrics. Initially underwhelmed by the simplistic song, Coots came up with the skeleton of the music in just ten minutes. Later when Coots brought the song to his publisher, Leo Feist Inc., they liked it but thought it was a kids' song and didn’t expect too much from it. Little did they know what they had in their hands. Coots offered the song to Eddie Cantor who used it on his radio show that November and it became an instant hit. The morning after the radio show there were orders for 100,000 copies of sheet music, and, by Christmas, sales had passed 400,000.

''Santa Claus is Coming to Town' is not only both Coots and Gillespie’s most famous work it is also both of their most recorded works ever having been covered by acts as far reaching as Bruce Springsteen, Green Day, Bing Crosby, Dinah Washington and Alice Cooper."

Research Resources: Haven Gillespie

Questions

What is Haven Gillespie, songwriter?

Haven Gillespie, who wrote the lyrics for hundreds of songs over a thirty year career from the twenties to the fifties, claimed that his comfortable retirement was made possible solely by the royalties from "Santa Clause Is Coming to Town." Some sources have called it the most re

How should Haven Gillespie, songwriter be cited?

Cite this page as "Haven Gillespie, songwriter: reference sources (web and print); selected songs; recordings, videos; miscellany," Cafe Songbook, https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songwriters/g_sws/gillespie_haven.html

Which Cafe Songbook pages are related?

Also read "You Go to My Head" (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/x-y-z/you_go_to_my_head.html); "That Lucky Old Sun" (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/t/that_lucky_old_sun.html); J. Fred Coots, songwriter (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songwriters/c_sws/coots_j_fred.html); Mitchell Parish, songwriter (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songwriters/n_o_p_q_sws/parish_mitchell.html).

Cite this page: Haven Gillespie, songwriter: reference sources (web and print); selected songs; recordings, videos; miscellany, Cafe Songbook, https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songwriters/g_sws/gillespie_haven.html