John Frederick Coots


John Frederick Coots was an American songwriter. He composed over 700 popular songs and over a dozen Broadway shows. In 1934, Coots wrote the melody with his then chief collaborator, lyricist Haven Gillespie, for the biggest hit for them both "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town." The song became one of the biggest sellers in American history.
In 1934, when Gillespie brought him the lyrics to "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", Coots came up with the skeleton of the music in just ten minutes. Coots took the song to his publisher, Leo Feist Inc., who liked it but thought it was "a kids' song" and didn't expect too much from it. 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.

Career timeline

Selected songs

  1. "Kid Days"
  2. "Time Will Tell"
  3. "Pals"
  4. "Stage Door Johnnies"
  5. "I Wonder Why"
  6. "Do You Remember?"
  7. "How I've Missed You Mary"
  8. "Right Boy Comes Along"
  9. "Our Home Sweet Home"
  10. "Peacock Alley"
  11. "Something in Here"
  12. "Opportunity"
  13. "We Are Waiting"
  14. "Clouds Roll By"
  15. "Until You Say Yes"
  16. "Wedding Time"
  17. "Old Fashioned Gown"
  18. "When a Regular Boy Loves a Regular Girl"
  19. "Up on Fifth Avenue Near Central Park"
  20. "Jimmy"