The holiday season is upon us. Local radio stations are already playing Christmas music. The area has seen its first snowfall, not long after the conclusion of one of the greatest World Series ever played. Seems like a good time to talk about Haven Gillespie.
Yes, that Haven Gillespie, the Covington-born lyricist behind “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town,” the holiday juggernaut recorded by everyone from Bing Crosby to Bruce Springsteen, the Jackson 5 and Justin Bieber.
Before Gillespie became the unlikely bard of a Santa surveillance state, the man who gave us the line, “He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake,” was a printer. He was also a journalist, a recovering alcoholic, and the co-writer of a baseball song performed by none other than the legendary Nat King Cole, one of the most iconic voices in American music.
Let’s rewind.
Born one of nine disadvantaged children in 1888 in a basement apartment on 3rd Street between Madison Avenue and Washington Street, James Lamont Gillespie quit school before the seventh grade to help support his family. At heart, he was a writer. He worked as a typesetter at Cincinnati newspapers, then moved to New York to try his hand at journalism. He wrote for the New York Times.
But it was Tin Pan Alley that called to Gillespie as a composer and lyricist. Tin Pan Alley, a collective of music makers in New York City, dominated popular music beginning in the late 19th century. He adopted a new pen name: Haven Gillespie. By 1911, he had a publishing contract and a growing catalog of sentimental and occasionally whimsical songs.
He wrote more than 1,000 of them. “You Go to My Head.” “That Lucky Old Sun.” “Breezin’ Along with the Breeze” was sung by Josephine Baker, the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture. And of course, the one that changed everything: “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.” Gillespie co-wrote it with J. Fred Coots. It was first performed by banjo player Harry Reser and His Orchestra to little fanfare. A cover version by George Hall and His Orchestra became a chart smash. The song eventually reached No. 1 on the sheet music charts.
According to Drifting and Dreaming: The Story of Songwriter Haven Gillespie, written by his nephew William Frist, Gillespie was grieving his brother Irwin’s death when his publisher asked him to write a children’s Christmas song. He wasn’t in the mood. But on the subway ride home, he scribbled lyrics on the back of an envelope.
“He was too heartsick to summon holiday cheer,” Frist writes. “But the words came anyway, simple, direct, and full of longing.”
“Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” debuted on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in New York City in 1934. It became an instant hit, selling 25,000 copies a day. Gillespie reportedly made millions of dollars in royalties off the song before his death in 1975.
The seasonal standard has turned out to be one of the most enduring and biggest selling songs of all time with estimated earnings of $27 million, but it always reminded Gillespie of his brother’s death. The composition also earned Gillespie greater respect in the music industry, and it cemented his reputation as a master of melody and mood.
What it didn’t do was pigeonhole him. Because nearly 30 years later, Nat King Cole recorded a song co-written by Gillespie and Larry Shay that traded sleigh bells for baseball bats.
Baseball immortalized
The song is called “Our Old Home Team.” It was released in 1963 on Cole’s album Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer. The album is a nostalgic romp through barbershop harmonies and turn-of-the-century Americana. “Our Old Home Team” opens with the crack of a bat and unfolds like a Norman Rockwell painting set to music:
“Follow the crowd who bid up big and loud / For our old home team…”
It’s a short, spirited number, less than two minutes long, but it captures the communal joy of rooting for the home team. The band strikes up, the stands fill and the crowd roars as someone belts a home run “right over the fence.” It’s not subtle, and it’s not trying to be. It’s a love letter to the bleachers, the brass band and the buzz of a tied game in the bottom of the ninth.
The song is the only known, fully documented, entirely sports-themed tune in Gillespie’s vast catalog. And it couldn’t have had a better vehicle to deliver it to the listening public. Cole’s album reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200, signifying the cultural reach of “Our Old Home Team.”
Though they came from different worlds, Gillespie from the print shops of this area, Cole from the jazz clubs of Chicago, their artistic instincts converged on that album. Cole’s decision to include “Our Old Home Team” was a stylistic fit and paid homage to Gillespie’s mastery of enduring American themes. In choosing Gillespie’s tune, Cole was honoring a fellow craftsman. And he was constructing a feeling, one rooted in memory and joy.
“That song is a hidden gem,” Covington historian Mary Ann Vance has said of “Our Old Home Team.” “It’s not just about baseball, it’s about community. Gillespie captured the spirit of small-town pride in a way that still resonates.”
Gillespie actually lived in Chicago for a short time. He returned to Covington, worked as a typesetter, and maintained membership in the International Typographical Union until his death. He began entertaining audiences at local vaudeville shows by performing songs he had written. One thing led to another, and Gillespie became a hit machine and a hot seller of sheet music.
Seasonal rituals
Part of what makes Gillespie’s baseball song so delightful is that he wasn’t a dedicated sportswriter, despite being a journalist. He didn’t regularly cover games or trade in box scores. His lyrics usually leaned toward longing, not line drives. But “Our Old Home Team” proves he could channel the same emotional resonance into a baseball anthem that he brought to Christmas classics and torch songs.
“Our Old Home Team” never penetrated the singles charts. But it lives on in the grooves of that Nat King Cole album. It’s nestled between other nostalgic tunes like “After the Ball” and “There Is a Tavern in the Town.” In its own way, it’s just as enduring.
Because what is baseball if not a kind of seasonal ritual? A game of history and hope, of fathers and sons, of homecomings and heartbreak. Covington’s very own Haven Gillespie understood that. He may not have written many sports songs, but he knew how to write about belonging. And that’s what “Our Old Home Team” is really about.
Gillespie also knew how to rally off the playing field. His own life was a study in comebacks. He battled alcoholism, lost his first wife, and found sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous. Gillespie moved to Hollywood, then Las Vegas. He remarried. He kept writing. When he died in 1975, Gillespie left behind a body of work that spanned six decades. He touched every corner of American music. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.
In 1988, the Kentucky Historical Society installed a highway marker at 3rd and Washington Streets in Covington to honor him. It stands as a reminder that one of the most beloved Christmas songs was written by a kid from 3rd Street. Gillespie never finished school yet somehow captured the spirit of the season. And, just once, the spirit of baseball. The Behringer-Crawford Museum in Devou Park has an original 1930s Decca record of “Our Old Home Team.”
“Who won the game? Did we win? What a game!
That’s our old home team.”
So, as snow drifts in and families gather, and the radio croons about Christmas, take a moment to remember Haven Gillespie, not just the man who reminded us that cheerful Santa was keeping watch, but the one who also gave us a reason to cheer for sport.