GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – The musician behind an iconic offbeat Christmas song has a direct connection to North Central Florida.
“Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” was written by Randy Brooks and originally performed by Elmo Shropshire in 1979.
Shropshire’s distinctive singing voice has been described as having a “menacing hillbilly vibe.”
“Whenever he sings, it sounds like Santa has a light grip on his throat,” Shropshire said.
The voice perfectly pairs with the tragicomic collision of myth, veneration, physics, and spiked eggnog in “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.”
Dr. Elmo posses backstage at Cyndi Lauper’s 8th Annual “Home for the Holidays” benefit concert at the Beacon Theatre on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)(Charles Sykes | Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)Florida roots shaped musical journey
That voice was sharpened by spending his high school and undergraduate years in North Central Florida.
“When I went to Ocala, everyone was tan and so unbelievably friendly and warm,” Shropshire said.
Elmo’s first claim to fame was in the emerging Marion County horse industry.
“I used to get up in the morning, 5 o’clock every morning, and ride horses,” he said.
His work included exercising Florida’s first Kentucky Derby winner, “Needles.”
“My dad thought he was really special. I didn’t know the difference,” Shropshire said.
In Gainesville, Elmo eventually found his love for music when he met the future founder of the Eagles, Bernie Leadon.
“We went to one of them’s tiny little apartment and those two guys were playing. And I thought this is the most amazing thing in the world, I was so blown away,” he said.
Holiday hit brings lasting fame
In the early 1980s, he struck gold with “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.”
“But anyway, it’s good musically, and it has all the wonderful trappings of Christmas: you know the goose is on the table, grandpa drinking beer and watching TV,” Shropshire said.
Elmo calls the song a “career-stopping hit.”
“It’s really a heartwarming thing to have a lot of people you don’t know think you’re great, even though all you did was sing a song like 40-some years ago, and it’s a great, and I’ll take it,” he said.
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It might have been a one-hit wonder, but North Central Florida can lay some claim to it.
Elmo’s parents were killed in a car crash while he was a teenager. He was taken in by a family in Ocala, one he credits with teaching him the values of enjoying all different aspects of life, including music. One member of that family remains in the public eye to this day: Marion County Commissioner Craig Curry.
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