Dolly Parton Drops Cheeky Christmas Favorite, ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus’

Dolly Parton unveils a jolly surprise with her rendition of the gleeful Christmas song, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” originally made famous by Jimmy Boyd in 1952 and famously covered by The Jackson 5. The track is Parton’s second preview of her upcoming Christmas album, A Holly Dolly Christmas, and follows the stirring “Mary Did You Know?”. 

On the playful song, Parton’s unmistakable sass and fun-loving personality shines brightly as she takes on the persona as an innocent child who caught sight of something she least expected. 

“Oh, what a laugh it would have been / If Daddy had only seen / Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night,” Parton sings on the holiday favorite. She then quips in signature Dolly humor— “I saw it with my own two eyes! Not only were they kissing, they were drinking milk and eating cookies together! Now, I know how to keep a secret, ‘cause I wanna stay on Santa’s good side! You just tell everything, you know? Mmm mmm!” Even if you’re not in the holiday mood yet, you’re going to be in it with just one listen.

In an earlier interview with Billboard, the country icon shared that the title of her new Christmas album was inspired by her love for Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas.” “He used to be on all of my Christmas specials all through the years. I think of him as Mr. Christmas. I thought, ‘Why don’t do I call it something cute and clever, like that or Deck the Halls with Boughs of Dolly, something corny like that,” Parton said. 

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Recording #AHollyDollyChristmas was a little different than our typical studio sessions….

A post shared by Dolly Parton (@dollyparton) on Sep 3, 2020 at 9:58am PDT

Even though the global pandemic was underway when recording begun, Parton embraced a new normal of recording— with masks. “We were working in our little circle with our masks and with our gloves and we had our engineer and we just had the very few people that we had to have when we were in there when I was singing,” the 74-year-old country legend explained.

“They had done some of the tracks before the pandemic, but then we went in and started doing our vocals. We’ve been very smart, very careful, because we’re trying to protect ourselves and I’m an older person. I’m not out to get it if I don’t [have] to, I’m hoping I can outrun all that. We’ve been all very, very smart, but it didn’t slow us up.”

A Holly Dolly Christmas is slated to drop on October 2, and will include both originals and holiday favorites, with featured guests that include Willie Nelson, Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus, Michael Buble, Jimmy Fallon and more. 

Fans can pre-order the record and exclusive merch bundles HERE.