Roy Exum
This is something that does not happen to normal people but every so often I get a song or a jingle in my head that will not go away. All weekend long I’ve been whistling and humming a song I happened to hear on Tuesday while browsing the radio and – in honesty – I haven’t heard it in at least 30 years. But back when I was a kid the song was my favorite for two or three straight Christmas seasons.
Luther Masingill, the silver-throated radio announcer who died not long ago after the most delightful 74 years ever spent doing what he loved, got me started on the song in 1953 – I was four years old at the time – because that was when a 10-year-old from Oklahoma, Gayla Peevey, first belted out the classic rendition of “I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas” on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Don’t laugh. To me it has always been a magical song. Gayla’s voice is just perfect and, back then, the song was accompanied by a marching band, which meant you’d scream “Turn it up,” bounce from your breakfast stool, and march wildly about the room, singing loudly along with Gayla.
The song was such a hit that a guy in Ponca City, Okla., where Gayla was born, took it upon himself to launch a fund-raising effort and soon a real, live hippo was delivered to the wide-eyed songstress. She immediately gave it to the city zoo and “Matilda” lived for 50 years, much to the delight of kids whose parents often told the story.
Some years later “Captain Kangaroo” (Bob Keeshan) cut a version and so did the “Three Stooges,” among others. As Christmas music begins to flood the airways, now that we have “gobbled until we wooble,” here are the lovable lyrics that I can still sing along with:
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I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
I don't want a doll, no dinky Tinkertoy
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 my hippo hero standing there
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, or rhinoceroseses
I only like hippopotamuseses
And hippopotamuses like me too
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
a hippopotamus is all I want
Mom says the hippo would eat me up
But then teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
The kind I saw this summer at the zoo
there's lots of room for him in our two car garage
I'd feed him there and wash him there
And give him his massage
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 my hippo hero standing there
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, or rhinoceroseses
I only like hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me too!
royexum@aol.com