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"Frosty the Snowman" is a popular song written by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson, and first recorded by Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys in 1950. It was written after the success of Autry's recording of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" the previous year; Rollins and Nelson shipped the new song to Autry, who recorded "Frosty" in search of another seasonal hit. Like "Rudolph", "Frosty" was subsequently adapted to other media including a popular television special. The song was originally titled "Frosty the Snow Man".
The song is about a snowman who came to life thanks to a magical hat some children found; he then had playful adventures before he "hurried on his way". This include games, sports, and other jolly things. Near the end of their adventures together, the children are saddened by Frosty having to hurry on his way for the last time. However, Frosty reassures them by exclaiming, "I'll be back on Christmas Day!" It has been covered by many artists over the years, including The Ronettes, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Larry Groce, Ray Conniff, the Cocteau Twins, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Beach Boys, and countless other musical acts (including a 2005 recording of the song by famous Hollywood actor Burt Reynolds)
The Canadian Brass are known for a version that is both jazzy and darkly humorous.
[edit] Charts
[edit] Lyrical Controversy
In 1972, Walter Rollins admitted in an interview with Life magazine that initially the concept of Frosty the Snowman was written as a cautionary tale pertaining to the scare of "nuclear winter" and initially it was said that nuclear fallout mixed with the snow and children's dreams of a world without war were what brought Frosty to life, but the publishers and Gene Autry thought that the song would have more commercial value as a children's Christmas song.
[edit] 1954 short film
In 1954, the UPA studio brought "Frosty" to life in a three-minute animated short which appeared regularly on WGN-TV. This production included a bouncy, jazzy version of the song. It has been a perennial WGN-TV Christmas classic, and was most recently broadcast on December 24 and 25, 2005, and again in 2006 and 2007, as part of a WGN-TV children's programming retrospective, along with their two other short Christmas classics, "Suzy Snowflake" and "Hardrock, Coco and Joe".
[edit] 1969 Rankin-Bass television special
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In 1969, the Rankin-Bass company produced a thirty-minute animated television special of Frosty the Snowman that featured the voices of comedians Jimmy Durante as narrator and Jackie Vernon as the title character.
[edit] External links
