Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Song and Why It Still Shows Up Every Easter
"Here Comes Peter Cottontail" is a novelty song written by Trumbore Hill and Jack Sallee and first recorded in 1948 by Gene Nelson. It was introduced in the 1955 animated special of the same name produced by Rankin/Bass, which later became a staple of American Easter television broadcasts. The song describes a rabbit riding a rainbow while delivering Easter eggs, and it has been covered numerous times by artists ranging from Bobby Vinton to the Muppets. The lyrics are short enough that most people learn them on first listen, which is probably why they kept getting reused in specials, commercials, and holiday radio playlists for decades. That also means searching for Song Here Comes Peter Cottontail Lyrics tends to return a lot of low-quality pages that strip out the verses and leave just a chorus repeated three times with ads sandwiched in between.
Song Here Comes Peter Cottontail Lyrics Full Text
Here is the complete version as originally performed, including the bridge and closing verse that most sites skip: Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hopping down the bunny trail
Bunny rabbit, hop along
The pretty little bells will sing
"Here comes Peter Cottontail"
Bring his shadow on a string
Cottontail, cottontail Now here is a message Peter left for all the girls and boys
To fill each little Easter basket with chocolate and with toys
Little children everywhere will be happy and amused
To see the Easter Bunny come on all the rainbow hues
Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hopping down the bunny trail
Bunny rabbit hop along
The pretty little bells will sing
"Here comes Peter Cottontail"
Bring his shadow on a string
Cottontail, cottontail
Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hopping down the bunny trail
Bunny rabbit hop along
The pretty little bells will sing
"Here comes Peter Cottontail"
Bring his shadow on a string
Cottontail, cottontail" Some transcriptions break this into three stanzas, some into four. The Rankin/Bass TV special uses the extended version with the middle verse about the Easter message intact.
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How the Song Got Licensed and Where the Recordings Actually Come From
The original 1948 recording by Gene Nelson is in the public domain in some contexts because it was registered and renewed correctly under the old copyright terms, but the Rankin/Bass animated special arrangement and subsequent recordings are protected. If you are looking to use the song for anything beyond personal listening, the licensing path depends entirely on which version you need. The melody itself is copyrighted. The lyrics are copyrighted. A cover recording made by a different artist requires a mechanical license through services like the Harry Fox Agency or Easy Song Licensing, which usually runs between $15 and $25 per unit for physical distribution and slightly more for digital streaming depending on your volume. That is straightforward if you are doing a small independent release. It gets complicated when you try to stream the original 1950s recording directly. I ran into this exact problem about three years ago while putting together a small library project for a community radio station. We wanted to include the original Gene Nelson version in a local Easter broadcast. The sheet music was easy to clear. The actual master recording was not. The label that held the rights at the time had changed hands multiple times, and the chain of title was murky. We ended up using the Bobby Vinton cover instead because his licensing was cleaner, and it cost us about half the fee. If you are doing something similar, check the ISRC code on the recording first before you assume you know who owns it.
Where to Find the Lyrics and Audio Without Wasting Time
Most lyric sites are content farms at this point. They scrape the chorus, repeat it, and wrap it in twenty pop-up ads. The ones that are not actively malicious still misattribute verses or paste in lyrics from parody versions. The closest thing to a reliable source for the full official text is the official YouTube upload from Rankin/Bass, which has the complete version with the middle stanza, or the AllMusic entry, which documents the original recording details and alternate takes. For audio, Spotify and Apple Music carry both the Gene Nelson original and multiple cover versions. YouTube has the full animated special, though the audio quality on some uploads is degraded from older television recordings. If you need a clean stereo copy for archiving or analysis, the Rhino Records compilation of Rankin/Bass holiday specials contains the best quality version currently in print.
Why the Song Works the Way It Does
The melody sits in a major key with a straightforward 4/4 rhythm, which makes it easy for children to sing along. That was the entire point when Hill and Sallee wrote it. They were not trying to compose something harmonically complex. They were writing a jingle-style track that could double as a children's song and a seasonal pop record. The bridge section modulates slightly to create lift before returning to the chorus, which is a standard trick in novelty music from that era. The song's structure is AABA with a tag at the end. The "Cottontail, cottontail" repetition in the tag is what gives the track its memorable hook. Singers sometimes rush that tag in live performance because it comes right after the bridge and the tempo naturally picks up. If you are learning to perform it, practice the bridge-to-tag transition separately before running the full song. That is where most people stumble.
Limitations and What This Song Is Not Good For
This is not a song that translates well into serious reinterpretation. The lyrical content is narrowly focused on Easter imagery, which limits its use outside of seasonal contexts. Any cover version that changes the tone significantly will face pushback from broadcasters who treat the Rankin/Bass special as sacrosanct holiday content. That is not a criticism of the song itself. It is simply a fact about how it functions in American media. For educational purposes, the song is useful as an example of mid-century American novelty music and the business model behind animated holiday specials. It is less useful as a teaching tool for music theory because the harmonic progression is conventional to the point of being unremarkable. If you are studying harmony, move on to actual jazz standards from the same period. They are more interesting and equally accessible. The original Gene Nelson recording is also difficult to source in high fidelity outside of compilation albums. Individual track releases from the late 1940s and early 1950s are often remastered from vinyl sources with noticeable surface noise, especially on budget reissues. Spend a few extra dollars on a proper CD or digital download from a reputable label if audio quality matters to you.
