Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer Is A Holiday Favorite
Written by singer/songwriter Randy Brooks, Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer is a humerous song chronicling the holiday after Grandma was allegedly run over by Santa and his reindeer while walking home Christmas Eve.
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. It has been covered by everyone from Ray Stevens to Mitch Ryder to the Coasters.
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer was a multi-million seller that one Nashville publisher has called “ The Gambler of Christmas songs,' according to Brooks’ website, www.randybrooks. com. A multi-year #1 on Billboard's holiday singles chart, Grandma earned Brooks SESAC Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year honors, spawned an animated Christmas special, musical toys, ornaments, greeting cards, apparel, video games, a branded hot chocolate mix, a Tesla dashboard app and inflatable yard abominations.
The song has been used in many movies, commercials and TV shows — most recently by Jimmy Fallon and Dolly Parton on The Tonight Show
and two episodes of NBC's The Good Place, states Brooks’ biography page on his website.
Grandma is typical of the tongue-in cheek novelty songs for which Brooks is known. His Percy the Puny Poinsettia was also a million-seller by virtue of sharing vinyl with Grandma. Will You Be Ready at the Plate When Jesus Throws the Ball appeared under the closing credits of the Showtime movie Pride Against Prejudice: The Larry Doby Story. And Goin' On a Date with Santa found its way into off-Broadway cabaret.
According to his website, Brooks has decades of performing credits — as far back as a trip to New York from his native Louisville, Ky., to appear on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour at the age of 15. After graduating from Vanderbilt, he entertained U.S. troops with USO in Vietnam, Thailand and Europe and has performed in 30 states and nine countries outside the U.S.
In recent years Brooks has performed at Nashville’s Bluebird Café and Douglas Corner, the Tin Pan South songwriter festival, San Antonio's Holiday River Parade, the Frank Brown International Songwriters' Festival, the Gatlinburg Songwriters Festival, the Smoky Mountains Songwriters Festival, Pirates & Poets songwriter series, the Wisconsin State Fair, as a guest performer with the Roanoke, Va., Symphony Orchestra, at assorted venues in Ireland and at various and sundry house concerts. As a performing songwriter, he has sold over 30 albums worldwide.
In addition to solo singer/songwriter appearances, he plays bass and sings with Dallas-based pool party band The Bad Monkeys and longtime Americana group Young Country.
He is a nephew of the late comedian Foster Brooks, 'The Lovable Lush.”
