About The Song
“Up on the Housetop” is a 19th-century Christmas song written by Benjamin Russell Hanby in 1864 while he was running a singing school in New Paris, Ohio. Modern reference works describe it as one of the earliest secular American Christmas songs and likely the first to focus primarily on Santa Claus arriving on a rooftop with reindeer and a sleigh. The piece was originally published in the magazine Our Song Birds by the firm Root & Cady and circulated as a children’s song long before the age of commercial records. Hanby, the son of an Ohio minister involved in the Underground Railroad, wrote around 80 songs before his death in 1867, but this carol and his anti-slavery ballad “Darling Nelly Gray” are the best known today.
Gene Autry’s association with “Up on the Housetop” came nearly ninety years after its composition, during the peak of his career as a recording star and “singing cowboy.” Following the huge success of “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1949) and “Frosty the Snowman” (1950), Columbia Records continued to look for seasonal material that fit Autry’s image. He recorded “Up On the House Top (Ho Ho Ho)” on June 26, 1953 at Columbia’s Hollywood studios with arranger and bandleader Carl Cotner. The recording, running just under three minutes, was issued later that year on the children’s EP Columbia MJV-176 and on associated 45 and 78 rpm releases. Label credits on these discs list the song as “Up On the House Top (Ho Ho Ho)” and often name Jane Whitman as adapter or arranger, while the underlying composition traces back to Hanby.
In Autry’s version, the 19th-century carol is presented in a compact, radio-friendly form. The familiar opening line “Up on the housetop, reindeer pause” is retained, and the lyric continues with the traditional visit from Santa, the descent down the chimney and the filling of stockings for children like “little Nell” and “little Will.” The text remains focused on the excitement of gifts—dolls, hammers, tacks and balls—rather than on explicitly religious themes, which aligns it with other secular Santa-centered songs of the mid-20th century. Autry’s recording sticks closely to the established verses and chorus, but the “Ho! Ho! Ho!” interjections in the title and performance emphasize the jolly, storybook character of the piece.
Musically, the arrangement reflects the polished Columbia sound heard on Autry’s other early-1950s Christmas recordings. Cotner’s orchestra provides a steady, mid-tempo accompaniment with rhythm section, light brass and reeds, and subtle sleigh-bell percussion. Autry sings in his relaxed baritone style, clearly enunciating the children’s story to make it easy for young listeners to follow. Compared with rougher cowboy material from earlier in his career, “Up On the House Top (Ho Ho Ho)” is firmly in the family-entertainment tradition: no extended solos, no strong rhythmic syncopation, and a running time tailored to jukebox and radio play.
Chart documents suggest that “Up On the Housetop” did not match the runaway sales of Autry’s earlier Christmas hits. In Gene Autry discography tables that list his country and pop chart entries, the single appears among his early-1950s releases but without a corresponding placement on the Billboard country or pop charts, a contrast to the Top 10 showings for “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman.” Later narrative histories of Autry’s recording career describe the track as his final new Christmas record for Columbia in the early 1950s, noting that it never had the same commercial impact even though it remained part of his seasonal repertoire.
Despite its modest initial chart performance, Autry’s “Up On the Housetop” has remained in circulation through reissues and compilation albums. It is included on collections such as The Complete Columbia Christmas Songs and The Original: Gene Autry Sings Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & Other Christmas Favorites, where it appears alongside “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town,” “Frosty the Snowman” and “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Digital services and holiday playlists regularly group these titles together, reinforcing the association between Autry and a mid-20th-century canon of Santa-focused songs.
Within the broader history of “Up on the Housetop,” the 1953 Autry recording is often singled out as the version that reintroduced Hanby’s 1864 carol to a mass audience. Modern summaries of the song’s history frequently mention his cheerful Columbia performance as one of the most notable interpretations, alongside later pop and country covers. By combining a Victorian children’s Santa song with the smooth production and cowboy-crooner persona that defined his post-war career, Gene Autry helped ensure that “Up on the Housetop” remained a familiar part of American Christmas music well into the era of LPs, television specials and, eventually, streaming playlists.
Video
Lyric
Up on the housetop, reindeer paws
Out jumps good old Santa Claus
Down through the chimney with lots of toys
All for the little ones, Christmas joys
who wouldn’t go?
(Ho-ho-ho) who wouldn’t go?
Up on the housetop, click, click, click
Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick
First comes the stocking of little Nell
Ol’ dear Santa, fill it well
Give her a dolly that laughs and cries
One that can open and shut its eyes
who wouldn’t go?
(Ho-ho-ho) who wouldn’t go?
Up on the housetop, click, click, click
Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick
Look in the stocking of little Bill
Oh, just see what a glorious fill
Here is a hammer and lots of tacks
A whistle and ball and a whip that cracks
who wouldn’t go?
(Ho-ho-ho) who wouldn’t go?
Up on the housetop, click, click, click
Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick
Up on the housetop, reindeer paws
Out jumps good old Santa Claus
Down through the chimney with lots of toys
All for the little ones, Christmas joys
Ho-ho-ho, who wouldn’t go?
Ho-ho-ho, who wouldn’t go?
Up on the housetop, click, click, click
Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick
Ho-ho-ho, who wouldn’t go?
Ho-ho-ho, who wouldn’t go?
Up on the housetop, click, click, click
Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick