Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
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Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer is a comedy Christmas song and the eponymous animated movie.
Written by Randy Brooks, the song was originally performed by the husband and wife duo of Elmo and Patsy Shropshire in 1979. Brooks offered Shropshire the rights to the song for $500, saying his own band wouldn't let him play it.
In the lyrics,[1] the grandmother of the family gets drunk from drinking too much eggnog and decides to return home to retrieve her forgotten medication. In the course of her walk, she is run over by a reindeer, and killed.
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[edit] Releases
The song was originally self-released by the Shropshires in 1979 on their own record label ("Elmo 'n' Patsy"), with the B-side called "Christmas". By the early 1980s, the song was becoming a seasonal hit, first on country stations and then on Top 40 stations. In 1982, the "Elmo 'n' Patsy" record label changed its name to "Oink" when the song was re-recorded. Oink Records, still based in Windsor, California, continued distribution of the 45 rpm record in the western U.S., with "Nationwide Sound Distributors" of Nashville, Tennessee pressing and distributing the song on its Soundwaves Records in the eastern U.S. In 1984, with the song now a big hit nationally, CBS Records was interested and signed Elmo & Patsy to Epic Records. A new recording was made with a new B-side ("Percy, the Puny Pointsettia"). The 1984 re-recording can be distinguished from the original 1979 & 1982 versions by the emphasis placed on the words "You can say..." in the chorus. 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.
Following the Shropshires' divorce, Elmo re-recorded it solo in 1992 and again in 2000.
The song has twice been covered by The Irish Rovers in studio recordings, in 1999 and a recording made before 1991. It has also been covered by Christian crossover crunk rock band Family Force 5, and by Ray Stevens.
[edit] Chorus
- "Grandma got run over by a reindeer, walking home from our house Christmas eve. You can say there's no such thing as Santa, but as for me and Grandpa, we believe."
[edit] Television
The 2000 animated television program Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer portrays the events depicted in the song---though, being made for children, the cartoon is toned down of adult content, so that Grandma does not die, and Santa is actually innocent of the crime, which was instead masterminded by a scheming relative ("Cousin Mel," depicted briefly in the song but made into a gold-digging villainness on the show).
[edit] Parodies
- Bob Rivers performed Osama Got Run Over by a Reindeer on his album White Trash Christmas.[2]
- Cledus T. Judd performed Grandpa Got Runned Over by a John Deere on his album I Stoled This Record.
- Da Yoopers performed Grandpa Got Run Over By a Beer Truck on their album One Can Short of a 6 Pack
- Unknown performed "Barney Got Run Over By a Tractor"
- Robert Lund performed "Carter Got Run Over By a John Deere" on his album Counterfeit Country.
- Select personnel from Z100, a radio station in Portland, Oregon, performed New Kids Got Run Over by a Reindeer, a reference to 1980s boy band New Kids on the Block.
- The Boogie Knights performed Gandalf Got Molested By a Balrog on their album of Mythic Distortions.
