A Hippo For Christmas, At Last
Gayla Peevey of Oklahoma was 10 when she recorded "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" in 1953. She was on hand in 2017 when a hippo was welcomed to the Oklahoma City zoo.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WANT A HIPPOPOTAMUS FOR CHRISTMAS")
GAYLA PEEVEY: (Singing) I want a hippopotamus for Christmas.
GREENE: Gayla Peevey, of Oklahoma, was 10 when she recorded this song in 1953. A local campaign granted her wish and delivered a hippo to the Oklahoma City Zoo. Six decades later, Gayla was on hand again as the zoo welcomed a new hippo.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WANT A HIPPOPOTAMUS FOR CHRISTMAS")
PEEVEY: (Singing) And hippopotamuses like me, too.
GREENE: It's MORNING EDITION.
Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.