Who wouldn’t go?

Popularly recorded by generations of singers, it’s a song that became internationally recognized in 1952 as the last in a series of instant holiday classics performed by singing cowboy, Gene Autry, which included “Here Comes Santa Claus” in 1947, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” in 1949, and both “Frosty the Snow Man” and “Peter Cottontail” in 1950.

But “Up on the Housetop” (aka “Up on the Rooftop”) was actually published in 1864, technically making it the first-ever secular Christmas carol – although “Jingle Bells” was published in 1857, it was originally intended as a song to celebrate Thanksgiving. Written by Benjamin Russell Hanby of New Paris, Ohio it is also the first to feature jolly St. Nick.

Actually a melding of the British “Father Christmas” and the Dutch “Sinterklass”, our image of Santa Claus (the Americanized name dates back to 1773) has much of its basis in the 1823 poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” (aka “The Night Before Christmas”) by Clement Clarke Moore, in addition to the iconic depiction drawn by illustrator Thomas Nast.

As for the 17^th Century origins of Father Christmas and Sinterklass, they’re believed to have roots in both Germanic pagan tradition (where Odin would descend one’s chimney during the winter solstice) and in the 4^th Century Greek-born Nikolaos of Myra. Also referred to as Nikolaos the Wonderworker, the (now) multi-denominational “Saint Nicholas” was revered for easing the plight of impoverished children and wrongly condemned prisoners and is still commonly recognized in port cities everywhere as patron saint of sailors and ships, offering safe voyage and protection from storms at sea.

Which may seem to be a long way from the Central Till Plains Region of Indianapolis, Indiana, where this short track was included on the 2007 album, “Jingle Sax” by the Indianapolis Sax Quartet… but then again (“click, click, click”) one mustn’t forget the old boy’s alternative method of getting around…

LISTEN TO TODAY’S SELECTION – Wednesday 19 December

Up On The Housetop

Up on the housetop

Reindeer pause

Out jumps good old Santa Claus.

Down thru’ the chimney