SMALL FACES: The unlikely pair of the...

SMALL FACES: The unlikely pair of the week: Frank Sinatra and Cyndi Lauper have collaborated on “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” for the upcoming “A Very Special Christmas 2” album benefiting the Special Olympics. Only thing is, it’s Lauper 1992, but Sinatra 1947. Album organizer Vicky Iovine says that Sinatra was unavailable for the hastily scheduled session but that he enthusiastically donated his old vocal track to the new recording. . . .

Social commentator Dennis Leary (“I think you hear me knocking, and I think I’m comin’ in”) has taken the reverse route from the norm, springboarding from his regular MTV spots to a recording contract. The match-chewing curmudgeon, whose nightclub act also includes music, has signed with A&M.;