Frosty The Snowman

Album: A Gene Autry Christmas (1950)
Charted: 7
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Songfacts®:

  • Long before Olaf from the Frozen movies, there was another magical snowman that delighted children. Frosty is just a regular snowman until he comes alive one day. He dances around, plays games with the kids, and leads them on an adventure through town. But snowmen only last until the first sunny day, and when Frosty starts to melt, he says goodbye and heads on his way, telling the children not to worry because he'll be back again someday, presumably reincarnated in the guise of another snowman.
  • "Frosty" was the creation of the songwriters Steve Edward Nelson and Walter "Jack" Rollins, where were looking for a seasonal follow-up to "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," which was a #1 hit the year before. Unlike "Rudolph," which was based on a book written 10 years earlier, "Frosty" was an original story. Like "Rudolph," it was recorded by Gene Autry and also became a seasonal favorite. Nelson and Rollins expanded their repertoire to Easter later in 1950 with the song "Here Comes Peter Cottontail," a combination of two characters, Peter Rabbit and Cottontail from Beatrix Potter's children's story Peter Rabbit. That one was also recorded by Autry.
  • This makes the list of Christmas songs that aren't really about Christmas, joining the likes of "Jingle Bells" and "Winter Wonderland" as songs that have lots of winter imagery, but no specific mention of the holiday.
  • Other hit versions of the song have included versions by Perry Como, who reached #74 in 1957, Johnny Mathis, who had a Top 30 Adult Contemporary hit in 2003 and Kimberley Locke, who topped the AC charts in 2007. In the case of Locke, this was her third consecutive Adult Contemporary Christmas chart-topper, having reached the summit in 2005 with "Up on the Housetop," and in 2006 with "Jingle Bells."
  • In 1969, this song was made into an animated television film, Frosty The Snowman, featuring the voices of Jimmy Durante and Jackie Vernon. Several sequels have subsequently been filmed. The Frosty The Snowman special was animated by the Rankin/Bass team, who also did the 1964 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special.
  • You won't see Frosty in many movies, commercials or TV shows because the character, like Rudolph, is copyrighted.
  • The Ronettes recorded this for the 1963 album A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. Spector produced the track using his "Wall Of Sound" technique and utilizing the session players who crafted many of the hits coming out of Los Angeles in the '60s. The Ronettes also did versions of "Sleigh Ride" and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" on the album. Phil Spector is Jewish, so according to Ronnie Spector, she picked the Christmas songs for The Ronettes, as that was a big holiday for her family.

    Many of these songs may have become Christmas classics, but unfortunately the album was released on November 22, 1963 - the same day US president John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The record, which Spector spent much of the summer of 1963 working on, didn't sell well as it was overshadowed by the news. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Bertrand - Paris, France
  • In 1951, the year after "Frosty" was released, Rosemary Clooney introduced another magical winter character in her song "Suzy Snowflake." That one melted away after a few years.

Comments: 1

  • Chomper02 from Shippensburg, PaThe tune was also used in another Raskin - Bass animated christmas special, "Frosty & Crystal"; the sequel to "Frosty The Snowman"..In the sequel, Sarah (the little girl) and her friends help Frosty make snow wife (which Frosty names Crystal)..They later have a little son and daughter (both little snow boy and snow girl) , and star with Rudolf (the Red Nosed Reindeer) for a July 4th - Christmas parade (which is shown in another animated television special made by the same men).
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