Why Don’t Santa Claus Bring Something To Me?

Billy Williams & Fred Godfrey, 1911.

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Proving at least that many of our contemporary Christmas traditions were already familiar a century ago, in this Fred Godfrey song Billy Williams’s plaintive little boy bemoans the injustice of Santa’s having passed him by, even though he’s been good (he says). The song must have been a favourite around the Godfrey household for many years after it was first heard, as Fred’s youngest daughter Peggie (1912–2001) knew it and sang it in her seventies for me (her son).

Recordings

Billy Williams recorded four versions of this song: 12 January 1912 for Favorite, 26 January 1912 for Zonophone, ca. August 1912 for Edison Amberol, and ca. October 1913 for Edison Blue Amberol. Reissues appeared on several other labels.¹

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Note

1  For comprehensive discographies of recordings by Billy Williams, see Brian Rust,
     British Music Hall on Record (Harrow, UK: Gramophone, 1979); and Frank
     Andrews and Ernie Bayly, Billy Williams’ Records: A Study in Discography
     (Bournemouth, UK: Talking Machine Review, 1982). For a collection of recordings of
     all the Billy Williams songs, see J.P. Myerscough, Billy Williams: All the Songs
     [8-CD set and accompanying notes] (Lowestoft, UK: Music Hall Masters, 2001).