Now actually, this used to keep the younger Blagger's amused back in the day and I'd casually assumed that Elmo & Patsy, because of the name, were from some U.S. kids cartoon / Sesame Street type show.
I think it's fair to say then that my flabber was ghasted when I discovered just earlier this season that the pair are actually Elmo and Patsy (Trigg) Shropshire, a then-married couple who performed bluegrass music in clubs around the west coast.
Presented the song - if that's the right colloquialism - by best friend Randy Brooks; the couple first had a local hit in 1979 and by the early Eighties the song had been picked up by various stations in the States and had climbed the country charts and various Top 40 stations. It eventually became a nationwide U.S. hit in 1983 and went Gold. Like the Hugh Grant character in the film 'About A Boy' all three have pretty much lived off the royalties ever since.
Now divorced, the sprightly 80-year-old Elmo is still a bluegrass singer and an age-category cross-country and relay champion! Patsy meanwhile did a rap version of the song in 2011 and still continues to write.
And in the UK? Well, 'Grandma Got Run Over' was released here in 1980 on the...wait for it... Stiff label and vied for attention alongside such releases as Ian Dury, Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello. It bombed spectacularly.
If the song isn't enough to want you drink heavily and dance the night away then wait till you see the video.
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