Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer"
Picture sleeve of 1984 release by Epic Records (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)
Released	1979 (Elmo 'n' Patsy) 1982 (Oink; Soundwaves) 1984 (Epic)
Format	7-inch
Recorded	1978
Genre	Christmas, country, novelty, pop
Length	3:30 (Elmo 'n' Patsy; Oink; Soundwaves) 3:26 (Epic)
Label	Elmo 'n' Patsy 2984 Oink 2984 Soundwaves 4658 Epic 34-04703
Writer(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 the husband-and-wife duo of Elmo and Patsy Trigg Shropshire in 1979. In the lyrics, a grandmother gets drunk from drinking too much eggnog and, having forgotten to take her medication and despite warnings from her family, staggers outside into a snowstorm. On her walk, she is trampled and killed by Santa Claus and his reindeer. The second and third verses describe the next day's Christmas gathering: "all the family's dressed in black" and a question is asked as to whether grandma's gifts should be opened at all or sent back for possible refunds or exchanges (the group answer to that question is a loud "Send them back!") while the widower acts as if nothing's happened, drinks beer, watches football and plays "cards with cousin Mel". The song closes with a warning that Santa, "a man who drives a sleigh and plays with elves", is unfit to carry a driver's license, and that the listeners should beware.

According to Brooks, he played the song while sitting in with Elmo and Patsy at the Hyatt Lake Tahoe in December 1978, and after the show they had him make a cassette of the song for them to learn. 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.

The song was originally self-released in the San Francisco area by the Shropshires in 1979 on their own record label (on "Elmo 'n' Patsy" #2984), with the B-side titled "Christmas". Initial copies appeared on a cream-colored label, with a sketch of a pig clearly visible, at left. Once initial copies had sold out, later-pressed #2984 cream-colored 45 label copies retained the same pig sketch, but decided to both move the sketch, and add the word "Oink", to the top of the 45's label. Meanwhile, the duo's names were moved to the bottom of the label, below the song title. By the early 1980s, the song was becoming a seasonal hit, first on country stations and then on Top 40 stations. Oink Records, still based in Windsor, California, continued distribution of the 45 rpm record in the western U.S., with "Nationwide Sound Distributors" (NSD) of Nashville, Tennessee pressing and distributing the song on its Soundwaves Records in the eastern U.S., peaking at #92 on the country singles charts. In 1982, the duo both re-recorded and re-released the song as a single, again as Oink #2984. But this time, Oink chose to handle all nationwide product distribution themselves, ending the old NSD-Soundwaves agreement. Re-recorded Oink #2984 45 copies appeared on a white label, not a cream-colored label, however. That is the easiest way (aside from listening to the 45 itself) to differentiate between the original, 1979 Oink #2984 recording and its now-much-more familiar, 1982 re-recording. An entire LP, named after their hit song, was also recorded in 1982, and was initially released as Oink #8223. In 1984, with the song now a big hit nationally, 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.