Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
"I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" is a Christmas novelty song written by John Rox (1902–1957) and performed by Gayla Peevey (10 years old at the time) in 1953. The song peaked at number 24 on Billboard magazine's pop chart in December 1953.
Gayla Rienette Peevey is a former singer and child star from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her family moved to Ponca City, Oklahoma, in 1948. She is best known for her recording, under her maiden name Gayla Peevey, of "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" (Columbia 4-40106, 1953). Peevey recorded the novelty song when she was 10 years old.
In 1960, under the name Jamie Horton, she had a minor hit with the song "Robot Man", a Connie Francis cover. Peevey graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Education degree. She eventually left teaching and owned her own advertising firm for 15 years. She is married to Cliff Henderson. They have a daughter, Sydney Forest, and 3 grandchildren.
The Oklahoma City Zoo capitalized upon the popularity of "I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas" with a fundraising campaign to "buy a hippo for Gayla". The fund raised $3,000 (equivalent to US$28,668 in 2019), and a baby hippopotamus named Matilda was purchased and given to Peevey which she then donated to the zoo in 1953. Matilda spent 45 years in the Oklahoma City Zoo, and then died at age 47 from a heart attack in 1998 while being transferred to the Walt Disney World's Disney's Animal Kingdom, in Orlando, Florida.
Alternative-rock band Ween released a reworking of "Are My Ears On Straight" titled "I'm Dancing in the Show Tonight" on their 1997 album The Mollusk.
In addition to being a singer, Henderson is also a songwriter, penning several of her Joy Records (New York) singles, including My Little Marine, Just Say So, We're Through – We're Finished, When It Comes To Love, Yes, I'll Be Your Girl and Dear Jane.
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
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 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
Mom says the hippo would eat me up, but then
Teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian
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 a hippo hero standing there
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles or rhinoceroses
I only like hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me too
"I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" is a Christmas novelty song written by John Rox (1902–1957) and performed by Gayla Peevey (10 years old at the time) in 1953. The song peaked at number 24 on Billboard magazine's pop chart in December 1953.
Gayla Rienette Peevey is a former singer and child star from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her family moved to Ponca City, Oklahoma, in 1948. She is best known for her recording, under her maiden name Gayla Peevey, of "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" (Columbia 4-40106, 1953). Peevey recorded the novelty song when she was 10 years old.
In 1960, under the name Jamie Horton, she had a minor hit with the song "Robot Man", a Connie Francis cover. Peevey graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Education degree. She eventually left teaching and owned her own advertising firm for 15 years. She is married to Cliff Henderson. They have a daughter, Sydney Forest, and 3 grandchildren.
The Oklahoma City Zoo capitalized upon the popularity of "I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas" with a fundraising campaign to "buy a hippo for Gayla". The fund raised $3,000 (equivalent to US$28,668 in 2019), and a baby hippopotamus named Matilda was purchased and given to Peevey which she then donated to the zoo in 1953. Matilda spent 45 years in the Oklahoma City Zoo, and then died at age 47 from a heart attack in 1998 while being transferred to the Walt Disney World's Disney's Animal Kingdom, in Orlando, Florida.
Alternative-rock band Ween released a reworking of "Are My Ears On Straight" titled "I'm Dancing in the Show Tonight" on their 1997 album The Mollusk.
In addition to being a singer, Henderson is also a songwriter, penning several of her Joy Records (New York) singles, including My Little Marine, Just Say So, We're Through – We're Finished, When It Comes To Love, Yes, I'll Be Your Girl and Dear Jane.
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
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 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
Mom says the hippo would eat me up, but then
Teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian
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 a hippo hero standing there
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles or rhinoceroses
I only like hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me too
![Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians - The Meaning Of Christmas Medley [Album] (Capitol Records 1961)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ez0aZYbJung/mqdefault.jpg "Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians - The Meaning Of Christmas Medley [Album] (Capitol Records 1961)
The Meaning Of Christmas Medley is a double sided album with the first side of the record consisting of choral settings of 13 familiar Christmas tunes strung together by Warings spoken reflections on the meaning of Christmas. Christmas means many things to many people, Waring intones in his introduction to the joyful Holiday. It means gifts, glamour, celebration, meditation, reunion, reminiscence, old friends...a time of great joy. The second side consists of only two tracks. The first is the Pennsylvanians jolly six-minute rendition of Twas the Night Before Christmas, which is probably the most famous musical adaptation ever recorded of that everlastingly popular holiday staple. The record concludes with The Song of Christmas, a 17-minute medley of sacred carols sequenced to tell the Biblical Christmas story. Let us not forget that to all men of goodwill who would pray for peace, Christmas means Christ, Waring suggests in an introduction tainted slightly by unintentional religious chauvinism. The record contains several charming performances, but among the highlights are the pretty Carol of the Bells and a snappy piano rendition of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer that recalls Warings jazzy roots.
The Meaning of Christmas Medley was composed by Fred Waring, Boland, Frank Cunkle, Jerry Toti, Johnny Marks, Leo M. Tellep, Mark Lawrence, Moe Jaffe, Mykola Leontovych, Roy Ringwald, Sherman Feller, and Victor Herbert
Fredrick Malcolm Waring (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was a popular musician, bandleader, and radio-television personality, sometimes referred to as Americas Singing Master and The Man Who Taught America How to Sing. He was also a promoter, financial backer and eponym of the Waring Blendor, the first modern electric blender on the market.
Warings Pennsylvanians was a dance band that was founded at Penn State University by Fred Waring.
First named the Collegians, the group was formed in 1918 at Penn State by the brothers Fred and Tom Waring and their friends Freddy Buck and Poley McClintock. They had a hit in 1925 with the song Collegiate. Other popular novelty songs were Ive Never Seen a Straight Banana and I Wonder How I Look When Im Asleep.
In 1929 they appeared in the movie Syncopation and on stage in The New Yorkers the following year. Their popularity increased in the 1930s with their presence in radio and movies. During the 1940s, they performed on Broadway and at the Worlds Fair and became the first band to broadcast its own TV show. From 1950–1970, they became a corporation that branched into workshops, real estate, and a magazine.
From 1923 until late 1932, Warings Pennsylvanians were among Victor Records best-selling bands. In late 1932, Waring abruptly quit recording, although his band continued to perform on radio. In 1933, You Gotta Be a Football Hero was performed on radio to great acclaim. His 1930 recording of Love For Sale by Cole Porter is one of the only period versions of this popular song.
Adding a mens singing group to his ensemble, he recruited Robert Shaw, recently out of the Pomona College glee club, to train his singers. Shaw later founded the Robert Shaw Chorale and directed the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Pembroke Davenport (1911–85) was Warings pianist and arranger.
During World War II, Waring and his ensemble appeared at war bond rallies and entertained the troops at training camps. He composed and performed dozens of patriotic songs, his most famous being My America. In 1943, he acquired the Buckwood Inn in Shawnee on Delaware, Pennsylvania, and renamed the resort the Shawnee Inn. To promote the inn, he centered his musical activities at the inn itself. He created, rehearsed, and broadcast his radio programs from the stage of Shawnees Worthington Hall throughout the 1950s.
During the 1940s and early 1950s, Waring and His Pennsylvanians produced a string of hits, selling millions of records. A few of his many choral hits include Sleep, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Button Up Your Overcoat, White Christmas, Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, and Dancing in the Dark.
The song, Breezin Along with the Breeze was used as a signature tune by Fred Waring")
