Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

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For the 2000 film, see
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer (Grey's Anatomy)
.
"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer"
Picture sleeve of 1984 release by Epic (34-04703)
Single by Elmo & Patsy
from the album Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
B-side
  • "Christmas" (Elmo 'n' Patsy; Oink; Soundwaves)
  • "Percy, The Puny Poinsettia" (Epic)
Released1979 (Elmo 'n' Patsy)
1982 (Oink; Soundwaves)
1984 (Epic)
Recorded1978
GenreChristmas, country, novelty, pop
Length3:30 (Elmo 'n' Patsy; Oink; Soundwaves)
3:26 (Epic)
LabelElmo 'n' Patsy 2984
Oink 2984
Soundwaves 4658
Epic 34-04703
Songwriter(s)Randy Brooks
Producer(s)Gary Potterton

"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" is a novelty Christmas song. Written by Randy Brooks, the song was originally performed by Elmo Shropshire in 1979 under the brand of Elmo and Patsy, the double act Shropshire had with his then-wife Patsy Trigg.[1]

Lyrics

The lyrics tell the story of the speaker's grandmother celebrating Christmas Eve with her family and venturing out into a snowstorm without her medication while drunk on eggnog. She is found dead the next morning, apparently having been trampled by Santa Claus and his reindeer. Her husband, the speaker's grandfather, is unfazed by his wife's demise and spends the holiday watching football on television, drinking beer, and playing card games with the speaker's Cousin Mel, while the rest of the family wonders if her gifts should be opened or returned. Later, the family has a goose for dinner, and the song closes with a warning that Santa is unfit to carry a driver's license.

In the music video, in which Elmo plays both Grandma and Grandpa while Patsy plays Cousin Mel, Grandma survives the attack and makes a triumphant return through the chimney.

Releases

According to Brooks, he came up with the idea for the song after observing a "tipsy relative" of his.[1] Brooks's uncle, Foster Brooks, was a famous comedian well-known for his act as a drunk.[2] After his own band dissuaded him from recording the record himself, he sat in with Elmo and Patsy at the Hyatt Lake Tahoe in December 1978, and after the show he offered the song to the duo, who were instantly impressed and commissioned a cassette of the song for them to learn.[2] Elmo claimed, after his divorce from Patsy, that Patsy never sang on the record (even as a backup vocalist) and was only credited because their established double act used both names, noting in the interview "that's another story."[1] Under the terms of their partnership, Patsy's parents (who were established in the Southern gospel industry) earned the publishing rights to the record and would pay Brooks his due royalties, while Elmo would own the master recording and handle distribution; Elmo subsequently went on an aggressive marketing campaign to promote the song with the assistance of his future second wife, saleswoman Pam Wendell.[2] A year later, they were selling 45s of the song from the stage, with Elmo himself appearing in drag on the album cover as "Grandma". Wendell and Shropshire opted to bypass the record stores when selling the records, fearing it would go unnoticed compared to bigger stars, instead opting for pharmacies that would sell the record as seasonal merchandise.[2]

The song was originally self-released in

CBS Records was interested in re-issuing both the 1982 Oink 45 re-recording, and the 1982 Oink LP. Soon after, Epic Records acquired the rights to both, from Elmo and Patsy. The Epic #04703 45 opted to replace the Oink 45's B-side "Christmas" with a track from the LP ("Percy, the Puny Poinsettia
"). Epic's 1984 re-release of the 1982 Oink LP was a straight re-issue, on Epic #39931. By the end of 1984, it was reported that sales of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" were, by record label: Oink: 50,000 45s sold; Soundwaves: 175,000 45s sold; Epic: 150,000 45s sold and 90,000 LPs sold. The Epic Records version charted at #64 on the country charts in 1998 and #48 in 1999.

The original version was released in the United Kingdom on Stiff Records (BUY 99) in 1980. It did not chart.

Other releases by the original artist(s) would follow:

  • Following the Shropshires' divorce, Elmo re-recorded it solo in 1992 and again in 2000, both times
    Sony Music Entertainment) as part of the 1982 distribution deal; Shropshire noted that he had to be aggressive when others wanted to use the recording, often negotiating a lower fee than Sony offered for the recordings he sold.[2]
  • Dr. Elmo
    in 2002. The 2002 re-recording is distinguished by a slightly different opening note in the chorus melody.
  • Dr. Elmo
    in 2007.
  • Time Life Records released Dr. Elmo's Bluegrass Christmas in 2010, which featured a bluegrass instrumental of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."
  • Patsy also re-recorded the song as a solo artist: once in a country style similar to the original (but in a different key to fit her own voice) and again in the style of old-school rap.

A sequel, titled "Grandpa's Gonna Sue the Pants Off of Santa", in which Grandpa gets lawyers to fight Santa in court, was released by Elmo Shropshire on his album Dr. Elmo's Twisted Christmas (1992).

Covers

The song has been recorded by other acts.

Parodies

In 1991 a Baltimore radio station targeted then-Governor of Maryland William Donald Schaefer with a parody entitled "Schaefer Got Run Over by a Reindeer". Schaefer responded by posing for a marketing photo to help boost sales of the song, the proceeds from which went to charity.[5]

Z100 Portland Morning Zoo made a New Kids on the Block-bashing parody of the song for Christmas 1989, entitled "New Kids Got Run Over by a Reindeer".

A parody "Grandpa Got Run Over by a Beer Truck" was released by Da Yoopers in 1993. Radio personality Bob Rivers recorded his own topical parody titled "Osama Got Run Over by a Reindeer" on the 2002 White Trash Christmas album.

Cledus T. Judd in 1996 released a parody called "Grandpa Got Run Over by a John Deere" as a sequel to "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" and as well did a cover of the song in 2002.

Stan Boreson sings a Norwegian-American version, "Lena Got Run Over by a Reindeer" on his Christmas album, Stan Boreson Fractures Christmas.

2 Live Jews released a parody titled "Moisha Got Run Over by a Wheelchair" on their 1998 album Christmas Jews.[6]

Others include "Grandma Got Molested at the Airport" by Donny Aldridge, also sung by Dick Mango, and "Grandma Got Dismembered by a Chainsaw."

In 2011, Florida-based actor and comedian Pete Clapsis released a parody entitled “Santa Got Run Over by a Grandma” as a precautionary video for elderly drivers in Florida.

In 2020, Steve Goodie and Brad Tassell released a parody entitled, Grandpa Got Run Over by a Hybrid.

Popularity

Edison Media Research and Pinnacle Media Worldwide independently surveyed radio listeners on which Christmas songs they like and dislike. In both surveys, results of which were reported in 2007, the only song that reached the top of both liked and disliked lists was "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."[7] Its "loved" ratings in the Edison and Pinnacle polls were relatively high—47 and 32 percent, respectively—but so were the "hate" or "dislike" ratings—17 and 22 percent.

A major

radio station, WASH (97.1 FM), dropped the song from its playlist. "It was too polarizing," says Bill Hess, program director. "It wasn't strong, except with a few people, and it had a lot of negatives."[7] The song also gained notoriety at Davenport, Iowa radio station WLLR in 1985 when a disc jockey played the song 27 times back-to-back during the morning show before station management was able to stop him. The disc jockey, who was suspended, was reportedly depressed and upset that a co-worker had left employment at the station to work out-of-state.[8]

Shropshire says the song is "a beloved holiday favorite" but also acknowledged a great deal of negative feedback, noting that for the first several years, he expected the song to lose its popularity and be forgotten, only to be astonished when it returned in popularity year after year.[2] The video of the song was "a holiday staple on MTV for many seasons." It has been "incorporated into talking toys and a musical greeting card." "My royalties are four or five times what they were" 20 years ago, says Shropshire, who performs the song with his bluegrass group year-round. "A lot of younger people say it's not really Christmas until they hear it."[7]

Television

The 2000 animated television special

WB Network every holiday season until the 2006 merger with UPN
to form The CW, where it continues to air today).

In the 2015 episode of the television show Scorpion, titled "Dam Breakthrough", three of the main characters sing part of this song, while inhaling helium.

During

season 13, of Family Guy), three small monkeys lip sync
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.

In the second season of the NBC comedy series The Good Place, the song is played on repeat (along with "She Hates Me" by Puddle of Mudd) at a party in the Bad Place attended by demons.

In episode 1550 of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Fallon tells a fictional story about the death of his grandmother, which is inspired by this song.[9]

Music video

The promotional music video for Elmo & Patsy's "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" was released in the mid-1980s, and aired on

Spike's official website and YouTube
. Elmo Shropshire played Grandpa and Grandma (in drag), while Patsy played Cousin Mel.

In the video, the family matriarch is run over by Santa Claus's reindeer but survives the accident (unlike in the actual song) and thus reappears toward the end of the video, alive and very much well, but somewhat fazed by the trampling. After dropping down the chimney, she speaks the cautionary last line of the last verse as a comment on Santa's driving: "They should never give a license/To a man who drives a sleigh and plays with elves".

Chart performance

Chart (1983) Peak
position
US
Christmas Hits (Billboard)[10]
 1
Chart (1984) Peak
position
US
Christmas Hits (Billboard)[11]
 1
US Hot Country Singles (Billboard)[12] 92
Chart (1985) Peak
position
US
Christmas Hits (Billboard)[13]
 1
Chart (1992) Peak
position
US
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard)[14]
 12
Chart (1997–1998) Peak
position
US Hot Country Singles & Tracks (Billboard)[12] 64
US Billboard Hot 100[14] 87
Chart (1999–2000) Peak
position
US Hot Country Singles & Tracks (Billboard)[12] 48
Chart (2016) Peak
position
US
Holiday 100 (Billboard)[15]
 96

References
  1. ^
    ISSN 0190-8286
    . Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Knopper, Steve (2022-12-20). "'Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer': How a Holiday Gag Became a Christmas Standard". Billboard. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  3. ^ RPM Album Charts (Dec 1982). "Adult Contemporary - Volume 37, No. 19, December 25, 1982". Archives Canada.
  4. ^ Anningston, Brett (Feb 25, 2010). "After four decades, group still loves to entertain". Times & Transcript.
  5. ^ "Who says Schaefer can't take a joke? Governor pokes fun at himself for charity". 12 December 1991.
  6. ^ "2 Live Jews - Christmas Jews". Discogs. 1998. Retrieved 2018-11-05.
  7. ^ a b c Farhi, Paul (December 14, 2007). "All I Want for Christmas Is Not To Hear That Song". The Washington Post.
  8. ^ "Dj's Record Effort Pulls Him Off Air". Chicago Tribune. United Press International. December 19, 1985. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  9. ^ Thank You Notes: People's Sexiest Man Alive Paul Rudd, Red (Taylor's Version) | The Tonight Show, retrieved 2021-11-13
  10. ^ "1983 Christmas Hits." Billboard, vol. 95, no. 52, December 24, 1983, p. 6.
  11. ^ "1984 Christmas Hits." Billboard, vol. 96, no. 51, December 22, 1984, p. 8.
  12. ^
    ISBN 978-0-89820-177-2
    .
  13. ^ "1985 Christmas Hits." Billboard, vol. 97, no. 51, December 21, 1985, p. 57.
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-0-89820-188-8
    .
  15. ^ "Holiday 100". Billboard.

External links

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