Artist:Elmo & Patsy
Song:Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer
Album Now That's What I Call Christmas!
I don't normally write about Christmas songs at this time of year. But the 1984 single Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer sold ten million copies. It's probably the most successful Christmas novelty song of all time. The guy behind it is veterinarian Dr. Elmo Shropshire. He was born Oct. 26, 1936 in Lexington, KY. He earned his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine at Auburn University. He started out as a veterinarian at Aqueduct and Belmont race tracks in New York. Then he moved to San Francisco and opened a hospital. He started playing banjo in a bluegrass band in his spare time. While playing a December 1978 show in Lake Tahoe, songwriter Randy Brooks played Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer. After the show, Shropshire asked Brooks to make a cassette of the song so he could learn it. Obviously Shropshire loved the song. He released a single in 1979 and sold it on stage. Eventually it became popular enough that Shropshire re-recorded it and released a 1982 album on Oink Records as Elmo & Patsy. Patsy was his wife at the time. Epic Records came calling and re-released the single and album in 1984. It didn't have great chart success but it became a Christmas perennial. And Dr. Demento played it on his radio show. The song is still popular today. It has sold ten million copies. Elmo divorced Patsy in 1985. Since then he has recorded as Dr. Elmo. He has re-recorded Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer a few times. The original album is out of print. A Dr. Demento Christmas novelty song comp is also out of print. This 2CD various artists budget comp probably has every Christmas song you will ever need. Shropshire is also a competitive runner. He won his age group in the 2019 US National 5K Cross Country Championship. Here's the video for Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer by Elmo & Patsy.
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