"Here Comes Peter Cottontail" is a popular secular Easter song composed in 1949 by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins. They also wrote " Frosty the Snowman" in 1950. [1] Mervin Shiner was the first person to record the song, on Decca Records in 1950. It reached #8 on Billboard Hot 100. The name " Peter Cottontail" was used by a character in a 1914 Thornton Burgess book, but may not have been previously used to refer to the Easter Bunny.
Due to the immense popularity of Gene Autry's Christmas songs " Here Comes Santa Claus" and " Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", Nelson and Rollins asked Autry to record their song. His 1950 version was on the Columbia label and peaked at number 3 on the U.S Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. [2]
Nelson and Rollins also wrote non-Easter lyrics to the tune that later appeared on the 1963 Walt Disney Records Peter Cottontail Plus Other Funny Bunnies and their Friends.[ citation needed]
Chart performance
Gene Autry
| Chart (1950) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 3 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 5 |
Jimmy Wakely
| Chart (1950) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 7 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 26 |
Johnnie Lee Wills
| Chart (1950) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 7 |
References
- ^ "Jack Rollins". Discogs.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. ISBN 978-0-89820-177-2.
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