# What textual evidence is there for an unreliable narrator in "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 28, 2019, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-textual-evidence-is-there-for-an-unreliable-narrator-in-i-saw-mommy-kissing-santa-claus/845482 "2019-12-28T00:26:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-textual-evidence-is-there-for-an-unreliable-narrator-in-i-saw-mommy-kissing-santa-claus/845482/21 "2019-12-29T19:15:01Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > St Nick is a Bishop. The kid should just be grateful it was the Mom he was kissing… The RuPaul version substitutes Daddy. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-textual-evidence-is-there-for-an-unreliable-narrator-in-i-saw-mommy-kissing-santa-claus/845482/22 "2019-12-29T20:25:59Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I have been arguing this with some people on Twitter and Facebook, and the arguments I’ve heard so far seem to be that “Santa isn’t real” or that Santa wouldn’t do something so unwholesome/transgressive. > > (1) So all the other songs about Santa Claus are really just about regular, non-magic beings who are dressed up in a red and white suit? > > (2) Kissing someone’s mom strikes me as less transgressive than [killing someone’s grandma.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgIwLeASnkw&feature=emb_logo) > > Seriously, there’s not even the slightest hint in the lyrics that this Santa is really the kid’s dad. Why would the dad be dressed up that way when the kids are asleep? Why isn’t there some line about how Santa surprisingly resembled Dad, or that when the kid went to the parents’ bedroom to go alert Dad to the hanky panky, he was nowhere to be found? I don’t buy it. It’s hard to overemphasize the cultural shift between 1952 (mommy) and 1978 (grandma) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-textual-evidence-is-there-for-an-unreliable-narrator-in-i-saw-mommy-kissing-santa-claus/845482/23 "2019-12-30T09:40:46Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > The RuPaul version substitutes Daddy. I was thinking more…Roman Catholic Bishop, IYKWIM. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-textual-evidence-is-there-for-an-unreliable-narrator-in-i-saw-mommy-kissing-santa-claus/845482/24 "2019-12-30T13:53:18Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Kid’s fucking lucky he didn’t come downstairs 5 minutes later. LOL! > [@Chronos](#): > > The face value is that the fat man from the North Pole is taking a break from his duties to get friendly with the mother of one of his clients. Precisely. > [@outlierrn](#): > > It’s hard to overemphasize the cultural shift between 1952 (mommy) and 1978 (grandma) Yet two of my favorite movies were made a few years earlier than this and featured protagonists engaging in adultery: “Citizen Kane” and “Double Indemnity”. There’s another problem with the theory that the song is really just innocent and “sweet”, as one person put it. The primary audience for songs about Santa Claus is kids who still believe in Santa Claus. Their parents cannot reassure them that the song does not describe that jolly old elf as a homewrecker, due to his not being real, without spoiling things for their kids. So even if it is really the dad, as so many people insist, the song is basically designed to mess with kids’ minds. Why wasn’t that in and of itself a bridge too far in 1952? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-textual-evidence-is-there-for-an-unreliable-narrator-in-i-saw-mommy-kissing-santa-claus/845482/25 "2019-12-30T15:37:46Z")
FWIW, the Wikipedia article accepts the “innocent” interpretation without question. > **[I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Saw_Mommy_Kissing_Santa_Claus)** > > "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is a Christmas song with music and lyrics by British songwriter Tommie Connor and first recorded by American singer Jimmy Boyd in 1952. The song has since been covered by many artists, with the Ronettes's 1963 and the Jackson 5's 1970 versions being the most famous. > The original recording by Jimmy Boyd, recorded on 15 July 1952, when he was 13 years old, reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop singles chart in December 1952, and on the Cash Box chart at the beginni... > [@](#): > > The song describes a scene where a child walks downstairs from his bedroom on Christmas Eve to see the mother kissing “Santa Claus” under the mistletoe. The lyric concludes with the child wondering how his father will react on hearing of the kiss, little knowing it is in fact his father in the Santa costume. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-textual-evidence-is-there-for-an-unreliable-narrator-in-i-saw-mommy-kissing-santa-claus/845482/26 "2019-12-30T17:12:35Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Kid’s fucking lucky he didn’t come downstairs 5 minutes later. I’ve always wondered about the origins of “Backdoor Santa.” ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-textual-evidence-is-there-for-an-unreliable-narrator-in-i-saw-mommy-kissing-santa-claus/845482/27 "2019-12-30T20:16:03Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Yet two of my favorite movies were made a few years earlier than this and featured protagonists engaging in adultery: “Citizen Kane” and “Double Indemnity”. > > There’s another problem with the theory that the song is really just innocent and “sweet”, as one person put it. The primary audience for songs about Santa Claus is kids who still believe in Santa Claus. Their parents cannot reassure them that the song does not describe that jolly old elf as a homewrecker, due to his not being real, without spoiling things for their kids. So even if it is really the dad, as so many people insist, the song is basically designed to mess with kids’ minds. Why wasn’t that in and of itself a bridge too far in 1952? 1. They both come to a bad end as adulterers **always** did. 2. People used to kiss under the mistletoe without being homewreckers, it was bad luck to refuse. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-textual-evidence-is-there-for-an-unreliable-narrator-in-i-saw-mommy-kissing-santa-claus/845482/28 "2019-12-31T03:02:43Z")
Santa Claus was a magic mushroom from Lapland. Work THAT into the song interpretation! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-textual-evidence-is-there-for-an-unreliable-narrator-in-i-saw-mommy-kissing-santa-claus/845482.md?page=1)