Gene Autry – Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer

“Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is a 1949 Christmas song written by Johnny Marks and first recorded by Gene Autry with vocal backing from the Pinafores. The composition was published in early 1949, and Autry cut his version for Columbia Records in Hollywood on June 27, 1949. Issued that autumn as Columbia single 38610, the record paired “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” with “If It Doesn’t Snow on Christmas” and was initially marketed as a children’s disc before being promoted more broadly to the pop market in time for the holiday season.

The song is based on the character Rudolph, created a decade earlier by Robert L. May for the Montgomery Ward department store. In 1939, May wrote a Christmas booklet about a young reindeer with a glowing red nose, produced as a giveaway for customers and distributed in the millions. Johnny Marks, who was May’s brother-in-law, later decided to adapt the story into a song, drawing directly on the premise of the original booklet and shaping it into a simple, singable narrative suitable for radio and records. His finished composition was ready by 1949 and quickly attracted interest from publishers and recording artists.

Accounts of the recording describe that Autry initially hesitated to take on the song, reportedly feeling unsure about a novelty Christmas number centred on a reindeer. According to later interviews, it was his wife Ina who persuaded him to give it a chance. Autry recorded the track with the Pinafores and orchestral accompaniment, using the smooth, clear vocal style that had already made him famous as the “singing cowboy.” Columbia issued the song on 10-inch 78 rpm and, later, 45 rpm singles, positioning it both as a children’s favorite and as a seasonal pop release.

Lyrically, the song retells Rudolph’s story in condensed form. An introductory verse paraphrases the older poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas,” listing the names of Santa’s traditional eight reindeer before asking listeners if they remember “the most famous reindeer of all.” The main verses then describe how Rudolph is mocked for his red nose, excluded from the other reindeer’s games and finally redeemed when Santa asks him to guide the sleigh through heavy Christmas Eve fog. The language is straightforward and repetitive, designed to be easily remembered by children, with the chorus built around the full title line.

Commercially, Autry’s recording was an immediate success. After its release in September 1949, Columbia began promoting it more heavily in November, and by the week of Christmas it had reached No. 1 on the U.S. charts. Chart and label summaries list the single as topping both the national pop best-seller chart and the country & western retail chart, making it one of Autry’s biggest hits. It is often noted as the first No. 1 song of the 1950s, since its official week at the top carried over into early January 1950. The record sold around 1.75 million copies in its first Christmas season and another 1.5 million the following year, later receiving a gold disc in 1969 for sales reported at seven million copies and eventually reaching well over ten million, placing it among the best-selling Christmas singles of all time.

The song’s success led to further releases and reissues. Autry re-recorded it in 1957 for his own Challenge label with a fuller orchestral and choral arrangement, and the track later became the centrepiece of albums such as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Other Christmas Classics and The Original: Gene Autry Sings Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & Other Christmas Favorites. Decades after its first appearance, the original 1949 recording returned to the charts through Billboard’s Holiday 100 and, in the late 2010s, re-entered the Billboard Hot 100, reaching the Top 20 as streaming and recurrent airplay gave new life to classic seasonal titles.

Over time, “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” has become a standard of the Christmas repertoire. It has been recorded by hundreds of artists in styles ranging from traditional pop and country to doo-wop and soul, and it has appeared in films, television specials and countless holiday compilations. In recognition of its enduring impact, Gene Autry’s original recording was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress, cited as culturally and historically significant. Today, Autry’s 1949 single remains the definitive version of the song and a central part of how the Rudolph story is known around the world.