Episode 2: Who Sang it Best? Holiday Edition

Episode 2: Who Sang it Best? Holiday Edition

Photo: The "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" original sheet music cover (Courtesy of Leo Feist).

The "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" original sheet music cover (Courtesy of Leo Feist).

For this episode of Who Sang It Best, we’re going to take a look at a Christmas Classic, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” You hear it everywhere – on Christmas radio, in Macy’s department store aisles and even in school. When you think of Christmas Eve, you think of this song. Let’s take a look at some covers of it!

1. Jackson Five - The Jackson Five Christmas album is one of the best Christmas albums out there and this is one of their most iconic Christmas covers. The beginning of the song is perfect, it sounds like holiday nostalgia wrapped into one song full of Christmas flawlessness. This song strays almost completely away from the original version, and still manages to excel in every way. 
2. Mariah Carey - Mariah Carey is the queen of Christmas, but she can’t always win. In comparison to the Jackson Five’s cover of this song, hers falls a little short. Still, the background harmonies, chorus and passion in her vocals are excellent.
3. Bing Crosby - Bing Crosby is an artist you probably only recognize because of his Christmas songs and covers. His voice is classically Christmas, and he’s not known for much outside of holiday music. This cover is pretty basic, but there’s not necessarily anything to complain about. 
4. Dolly Parton - This song is very Dolly Parton. So Dolly Parton, in fact, that it doesn’t feel much like a Christmas song. The “Partonness” of this song takes center stage, rather than the actual song. 
5. Justin Bieber - I don’t think I even need to say anything about this one.

Come back tomorrow for our next ranking!