 | Gayla Peevey was a child star from Ponca City, Oklahoma. She is best known for her recording, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" (1953), which she recorded when she was 10 years old. When this song came out, the Oklahoma City Zoo started a fundraiser to “buy a hippo for Gayla”. It worked, but she later donated it to the zoo, as it was a bit hard to keep a hippo at home in Oklahoma. The hippopotamus named Matilda spent 45 years at the Oklahoma City Zoo, and then sadly 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. |
| If the song isn't odd enough, the accompanying video here just adds to the bizarre nature of this novelty song. I first heard this song back in 2012, and used it as the theme music for the Weird Retro Christmas Countdown, of alternative Christmas movies. Captain Kangaroo, recorded a version of the song in the 1960s. And has been covered by novelty song radio broadcaster, Dr. Demento. | |
