Songfacts®:

• In 1987 John Mellencamp (known at the time as John Cougar Mellencamp) released a modern update of the Christmas song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," originally sung by 13-year-old Jimmy Boyd and released in 1953. Mellencamp was 36 when his version was released, so it brought a very different feel to the song, making it more a of a fun holiday romp than a cutesy (some would say cloying) novelty song. His version also has a lot more going on musically, with backup singers and a fiddle.
• "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" was John Mellencamp's contribution to the A Very Special Christmas album, organized by producer Jimmy Iovine, who wanted to honor the memory of his father, who died soon after the holidays in 1985. All of the proceeds from the album went to the Special Olympics, and none of the artists were paid for their songs.
  
  Some of the artists who contributed, including Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks and U2, had worked with Iovine, but Mellencamp hadn't. The Special Olympics benefit was a big selling point for him - John was born with spina bifida and could relate to kids who were facing similar challenges. He explained to Entertainment Tonight: "I was born with a growth in the back of my neck. When I had neurosurgery and had it taken off, I could have been crippled, because when you start messing around with the spine it's a pretty tedious thing. A girl had the same operation I did the day after, and this girl is paralyzed from the neck down, so I consider myself pretty fortunate, and when they asked me to do that, it was like, 'Well sure.'"
  
  Mellencamp sat out Live Aid and wasn't part of "We Are The World," but he was a founder of Farm Aid and known to support causes he believes in.
• Mellencamp recorded the song during sessions for his album The Lonesome Jubilee, which was released in 1987 a few months before A Very Special Christmas. His band at the time included drummer Kenny Aronoff and fiddle player Lisa Germano.
• Mellencamp shot a video for "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" before his show at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis on December 11, 1987. A film crew was on hand that day to shoot a live video for his song "Check It Out," which they shot after the concert with fans who were willing to stick around, which was most of them.
• At the end of the song, Mellencamp's 6-year-old daughter Teddi Jo gets a turn on vocals, a throwback to the original version of the song, which is sung by a child. She also sings it in the music video.
• Mellencamp's "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" was added to a lot of holiday playlists when it came out in 1987. It was a no-brainer for radio programmers in rock and pop formats - Mellencamp was huge at the time, with "Paper In Fire" and "Cherry Bomb" getting lots of airplay that year. Some of the other tracks from A Very Special Christmas that got a lot of heat include U2's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" and Madonna's "Santa Baby."