(…and He’s Rockin’ the Blues!)
Music by J. Fred Coots, Lyrics by Haven Gillespie; Arranged by Elena Fortin
Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town is a Christmas classic! And one that comes to mind as being a carol that is often “re-imagined” in different styles. It’s been recorded by a lot of different artists in varying styles–I hear the rock version quite a bit during the holiday season.
The arrangement grew out of my awe for blues pianists and early rock n’ rollers. I love the sound of the blues and how the pianists mimic (to the best of their ability) the blue notes, slides, and motifs that seem so easy on the guitar! Their playing is almost at polar opposites from my classical upbringing but still so fun to play!
The original piece was written by J. Fred Coots with lyrics by Haven Gillespie.
About the arrangement
I thought it’d be fun to write a version of Santa Claus coming to town and having a great ole rollicking blues time! So I set out to write a blues version of this classic. Take the carol, add a thumpin’ left hand bass line, throw in some blues scales/runs/tremelos and blue notes (grace notes to us classical players), and you get a Christmas carol that is showy, fun to play, and makes you want to dance.
In blues playing: the style of playing blue (grace) notes is a little different than in classical playing. For blues–the notes “mash” together, sometimes you use the same finger to slide off from a black key to a white key, and generally add a little more dissonance.
I thought it was really fun how well the blues genre fit in with Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town. One of my little students that loves the blues heard this version and his eyes lit up and he said, “I didn’t know you could turn that song into a blues song!”
Video Performance
This video is a little different than my other ones. My recording equipment went on the fritz and I ended up just doing a video of Christmas images with the Musescore playback recording doing the playing. That’s why the playing sounds robotic–but it gives you an idea of what the music is like.
Purchase Information
Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. This arrangement is under copyright with the ArrangeMe program by Hal Leonard.
Sheet Music Plus – Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town (and he’s Rockin’ the Blues).
Sheet Music Sample
