One was Randy Brooks, nephew of the late comedian Foster Brooks, who wrote the song but couldn’t convince his own group to play it. Whatever it is, I’m sure he won’t disappoint.At first, “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” made three people laugh. He said that my grandfather was the true athlete in high school.Įlmo Shropshire is a jack of many trades so who knows what’ll come next for him. At 85, he is still running.Įven though this interview was about him, I was touched that he brought up my grandfather. He says he won a gold medal in the World Masters Athletics Championships in Brazil. And he won first place for his age group.īy the age of 83, he had run in 22 races. “They said you don’t have to win, all you have to do is finish,” Shropshire said. Ten years ago, he was asked to join a running club and enter in the USA Masters 5k Cross Country Championships in San Diego. Before he knew it, he had sold his practice to pursue music.Īnother surprising thing about Shropshire is that he is a competitive runner. And at some point, I took some singing lessons,” Shropshire said. “I started trying to sing and I hated the way I sounded, so I would sing just out of necessity. He joined other fans of the bluegrass group, and they created a band of their own, but nobody wanted to sing. In between seeing patients at the veterinarian hospital, he started playing the banjo. And they said, you know, if you love the music so much you should try to learn how to play,” Shropshire said. “I was just mesmerized at how great they were. The band took notice of him and invited him over one night after a show. In his 30s, Shropshire began going to watch a bluegrass band perform when he left his veterinarian hospital for the night. I didn't start playing at all until I was about 35 and I felt like I had a lot of catch up to do. “I take care of friends’ animals once in a while now, but I really had the bug to play music. “I loved being a veterinarian,” Shropshire told me. It surprised me that he was willing to give up all that effort and investment. After Shropshire made money on the song, he sold his veterinary practice in San Francisco. They went to high school, college and veterinary school together. My grandfather, who died in 2018, had told me stories about Elmo Shropshire. The Man Behind the Song “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”Īs a third-year journalism student, I never imagined I’d interview the man who sang the Christmas staple “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” He was a dear friend of my grandfather. We like we want to hear it.'"ĭecades later, his song has sold over 12 million copies and continues to grow bigger with each passing Christmas. And then some other people called and said, 'we heard there was a song where grandma gets killed at Christmas. But I guess it's over now.' And a lot of people called in and said that they hated it. "And then December 26 came along, and the bottom dropped out. "And I my first thought was, 'wow, he's playing my song, but I sound terrible'" he said. The song was played by a San Franscisco radio station after they got 50 listener requests for it. So I sat down and sang “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” with a guitar." After the show, he said, he said I have a song that I think would be great for you. And they came to see our show that night. And Randy was in the band that had just finished there but they couldn’t leave because of the snowstorm. "And the day we arrived, there was a big snowstorm. "We had a job playing at Hyatt Lake Tahoe," Shropshire said. They met while playing at the same venue. And I could give it to a few of my friends for a gag Christmas gift. And I thought it would just be a fun thing to do. So, I didn't have any expectations at all. "I was still working at my veterinary hospital. "I wasn't very full-time music," he said. He never imagined the song would get much traction. Elmo Shropshire recorded the song “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” in 1979.
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