I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas: The Story behind the Song

A hippopotamus for Christmas is a classic song written by John Rox and sung by Gayla Peevey. When Peevey performed this song in 1953, she was only ten years old. Gayla Peevey was a child star of Oklahoma when Rox signed her to sing this song to raise money to bring the city zoo a Hippopotamus.

Later in 2007, Peevey clarified during a radio interview that song was not recorded for the zoo originally. A local advertiser picked up the song on the popularity basis for the fundraiser. The campaign was successful and the city zoo got a hippo. The hippopotamus named Matilda lived lived for fifty years.

A beautiful song sung by ten year old highlights the desire of a kid to get a hippo for this Christmas. The kid ask Santa to give a gift of hippo this year. The song says that hippo is so easy to bring that Santa doesn’t have to throw down the messy chimney, he can bring him through the door.

The child psychology is so amazingly described in this song, “A hippopotamus for Christmas” that the song helped to raise fund for the zoo. The song is specially targeted to the kids but it is loved by people of all ages because of the innocence with which the child asks for hippo as a gift this Christmas.

Few lines from this song are as follows:

“I want a hippopotamus for Christmas

Only a hippopotamus will do

Don’t want a doll, no dinky Tinker Toy

I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas

I don’t think Santa Claus will mind, do you?

He won’t have to use our dirty chimney flue

Just bring him through the front door,

that’s the easy thing to do

I can see me now on Christmas morning,

creeping down the stairs

Oh what joy and what surprise

when I open up my eyes

to see a hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas

Only a hippopotamus will do

No crocodiles, no rhinoceroses

I only like hippopotamuses

And hippopotamuses like me too”

The kid in this song ask only for hippopotamus not even crocodiles or rhinoceroses will do. The kids depict the animal as the hero and the strongest animal in this song and asks Santa to gift only this animal as a Christmas gift.