Must Be Santa (song)

"Must Be Santa" is a Christmas song that was originally recorded in 1961 by Mitch Miller. Hal Moore and Bill Fredericks wrote the song. Although the lyrics are different, it has exactly the same tune as "Oh, You Sweet One", written by Moe Jaffe and Richard Hardt, and recorded by Thurl Ravenscroft for Bally Records in 1956.

The song is structured as a call and response, with the lead singer posing the question of who has a certain feature, with a chorus responding that Santa has said feature. After every other verse, the list of features mentioned up to that point is reiterated, followed by the chorus of "must be Santa" repeated three times and ending with "Santa Claus."

Example:

Lead singer: Who laughs this way, ho ho ho?
Chorus: Santa laughs this way, ho ho ho!
All: Ho ho ho, cherry nose, cap on head, suit that's red...

In terms of music theory, the melody is comparatively simple. The majority of the song is based in a hexachord ranging from the 6th degree of a major scale up to the 4th of the next octave, and all of the intervals are either a major second or minor second wide. The verses consist of a simple three note melody, with the lead singer repetitively singing the tonic; the prechorus follows with a 1st-2nd-3rd degree (do-re-mi) repetition. There are no accidentals and the song begins and ends on the tonic (1st degree of the scale). The only exception to this is the bridge, which lists off the names of the traditional eight members of Santa Claus's reindeer team (or, in Bob Dylan's version, eight of the ten most recent Presidents of the United States) and is sung entirely on the low 5th degree (dropping a fourth from the 1st that ended the chorus, and then jumping back up to the 1st when the prechorus begins).

Cover versions

Lorne Greene recorded a hit version of the song in 1966 along with the Jimmy Joyce Children's Choir. It has also been covered by Raffi.

Bob Dylan version

In November 2009, Bob Dylan covered Brave Combo's version of the song in a polka style for his Christmas album, Christmas in the Heart. The New York Daily News described Dylan's version as such: "It's sort of unclear if Dylan (...) was aiming to celebrate the holiday, or gently poke fun at the music's Norman Rockwell-esque simplicity."