Thursday, December 10, 2009

"I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas!" ...what's YOUR favorite Christmas tune?

I tell you what...you can be in the worst mood, and then "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas" comes on the radio, and there comes that smile!  LOL..That is the cutest song I have heard SINCE "Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer"...

Here is the YouTube link to "Hippopotamus"...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtqIM_bPTws

Wikipedia's link to "I want a Hippopotamus For Christmas"  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Want_a_Hippopotamus_for_Christmas  The song was written by John Rox in the early 1900's and sung by a little girl (Gayla Peevey) who was only 10 years old at the first time the song was performed in 1953.  What a cutie!  Columbia Records was the recording giant who released the song. 

The story goes that Gayla Peevey's recording was such a hit that a campaign was launched to give her a real hippo.  IT WORKED.  She received a hippopotamus, and donated it to the zoo.  I have to say...you go girl....what a woman!


10 comments:

Politics Alabama said...

I, too, like that song. In fact, last Christmas I put together an arrangement of it and recorded my actor-daughter singing the song. You can find it here, if you're interested.

http://gpomusicsamples.homestead.com/files/I_Want_A_Hippopatamus_For_Christmas_-_Final.mp3

One of MY favorite Christmas songs is a classic... Beethoven's "Ode To Joy". Last Christmas I put together an arrangement of Ode To Joy... a modernized rendition.

http://gpomusicsamples.homestead.com/files/Ode_To_Joy_-_MAG.mp3

Let me know what you think. I don't do this professionally, just for fun.

Deb Murphree/Alabama Politics said...

Matthew! That was fantastic! That was your daughter singing? she's very GOOD. I will listen to the other song this afternoon. Thanks for the great post...I really enjoyed what I could hear of it...I have dial up...so it was slow. lol..

Politics Alabama said...

Thanks, Deb. Yes, my daughter is a VERY good singer... much better than it sounds, in fact, as she was using a "novelty" voice for that one.

I compose and arrange music as a hobby... mostly. I've got a new site up that basically just lets you listen to some of the work I've done... all Christmas music right now.

http://musicshare.homestead.com/index.html

I'll add more as I create it. Let me know what you think!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi There, Cute ones, Deb.... They do make you smile, don't they???? I love to smile at Christmas --and LOTS of things make me smile.

The first thing to come to mind to me is not just a Christmas song--but it is cute. It's the Senior Adult's version of "My Favorite Things"... I'll email you the words. It is so cute.

We're on the road to go hiking!!!
Hugs,
Betsy

Deb Murphree/Alabama Politics said...

Matthew, does she have any CD's out that I could listen to. I just cannot get the music to do more than a little bit at a time...since I have (shhhh) DIAL UP lmao....grrrrrrrrr....I love music too. Used to teach piano years ago...

Deb Murphree/Alabama Politics said...

Betsy...I wanna go hiking LOL...WEEEEEEEE...sounds like you two are going to have some more fun. HOW do you do it, (have fun) in the COLD? How do you do a lot of hiking with so many clothes on LOL..

Politics Alabama said...

Deb, my daughter does not have any CD's... but my wife does. She has two CD's recorded and for sale. See:

http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/Michon

I arranged some of the accompaniment music on one of her albums.

Deb Murphree/Alabama Politics said...

I'll have to check it out...thanks for giving me the info...does she sing as good as your daughter? What a talented family!!

Politics Alabama said...

Hmmm... politically speaking, that's a tough question to answer. Either one of them could read this, and no matter how I answer I get into trouble!

Lol!

Honestly, though, Michon has had MUCH longer to practice. Give her a listen...

Don said...

Deb, if you want to go hiking as you said in a comment to Betsy, above, it may be a long trek, but I think MapQuest or some other mapping program can show you how to hike from your house to mine.

Maybe you can get here in time to stand under the mistletoe in a tree in my back yard with me to ring in year 2010. LOL!!