I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

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"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is a Christmas song with music and lyrics by Tommie Connor.

The original recording by Jimmy Boyd reached #1 on the Billboard charts in 1952, and on the Cash Box magazine chart at the beginning of the following year. The song was commissioned by Neiman Marcus to promote their Christmas card for the year, which featured an original sketch by artist Perry Barlow, who drew for the New Yorker magazines for many decades.

Jimmy Boyd's record was actually condemned by the Catholic Church in Boston when it was first released on the grounds it mixed sex with Christmas.[citation needed] Boyd, aged thirteen, was widely photographed meeting with the Archdiocese to explain the song.[citation needed]

Other versions of the song were recorded through the years by the likes of The Jackson Five, John Mellencamp, the Hampton String Quartet (the title track of their album, "What if Mozart Wrote 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus'?"), Jessica Simpson, and Twisted Sister on their 2006 A Twisted Christmas album. Phil Spector recorded "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" with the Ronettes. Comedian Kip Addotta recorded a parody called I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus that gets played during Christmas time on the Dr. Demento radio show.

Preceded by
Why Don't You Believe Me?
Cash Box magazine best selling record chart
#1 record

January 3, 1953
Succeeded by
Why Don't You Believe Me?
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