The Real Story Behind Dominick The Italian Christmas Donkey

We always get tons of requests for Dominick The Italian Christmas Donkey.

How did this song get so popular? Here's the story behind the song.

Dominick the Donkey is a Christmas song written by Richard Allen, Sam Saltzberg and Lou Monte, first sung by Monte in 1960.  Monte was an Italian-American singer best know for singing Italian novelty records in the late 50's and early 60's. The song describes a donkey who helps Santa bring presents to children in Italy.

The song charted at number 14 in the Billboard Hot 100 in December of 1960. The song only received limited radio airplay at the time due to the perception of its novelty and some Italian lyrics. Dominick The Donkey is a well know symbol of Christmas in Italy!

Lou Monte continued to record until 1981 and passed away in 1989.

Dominick  the Donkey is one of those songs that you can't get out of your head. I'm sure we'll be playing it soon on Lite Rock!