Springsteen - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Here's my favorite Christmas song - "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" by Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. This is one of earliest versions (and one of the best, in my opinion) from the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey in 1978. Forgive the brief commercial and the black and white, but it is vintage after all.

In 1976, Bruce and many of the E-Streeters would come listen to my band The Other Side at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park. This was during the period when he was under injunction from his former manager so he wasn't allowed to perform. He was a nice guy then, and when I met him again some 25 years later in California (in Studio B of Front Page Studios and again back stage at one of his concerts) just as nice. He's a real down to earth guy, despite his massive success.

I don't think I really appreciated Bruce though, until I saw him on the Charlie Rose's PBS show maybe four or five years ago. During the show, he performed "Born In The USA" with just him on a 12 string, but he played it the way you'd expect an old bluesman to play it. As blues legend Willie Dixon once told me, "The Blues are the facts of life", and Bruce was telling it like it should be told. I was convinced at that point that he was on the level of any of our musical national treasures.

Again, ignore the brief commercials and don't let the marginal video get in the way of some great music. Below you'll also find that great Charlie Rose performance of "Born In The USA."