Dr. Elmo Transcript

December 22, 2007

Introducer: You’ve been listening to Sound Authors, where authors sound off. If you’d like more information about Sound Authors and Dr. Kent’s guests, visit soundauthors.com. Now, back to Dr. Kent and friends.

Dr. Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to Sound Authors. On the fourth segment of each show, we have authors of sound. It is my childish pleasure to welcome Dr. Elmo, who is the author of “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” I’ve loved it all my life. Welcome to the show.

Dr. Elmo: Hello, Dr. Kent. Great to be on.

Dr. Gustavson: Before anything else, I think I’ll play a little of the clip that made you famous. “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” Here we go.

Dr. Elmo: OK.[Musical interlude]

Dr. Gustavson: How did this song start in your head? Did you just sit down and start playing it?

Dr. Elmo: No, I just wrote it about a friend of mine. He had a grandmother who used to imbibe a lot during the Christmas holidays. We just sat and instead of saying she was hung over, it would more politically correct to say that she was run over by a reindeer.

Dr. Gustavson: [laughs] And this song has sold how many million copies? It’s on cute little reindeer dolls, right?

Dr. Elmo: Yeah, it’s amazing that it’s sold so much because, you know, in the beginning, it didn’t start out to be a hit. A lot of people didn’t like it. Whatever station would play it, somebody would call and say they didn’t like it and they would pull it off the air. So it kind of babbled on and off for about four or five years, until finally enough people called in and they started playing it.

Dr. Gustavson: And you’re one of the first successful independent artists in a way because now, it’s open to all sorts of musicians in the industry. But back when this song first came out 25 years ago, it was not common that somebody could just get on the radio.

Dr. Elmo: Not at all. I wasn’t even a full-fledged musician at that time. We didn’t have any promo company; we didn’t have any record company or anything. It seemed to me that we were just lucky enough that so many people called up, maybe more out of curiosity than anything. They called the radio stations so much that they kind of made a hit out of it, even without a promo.

Dr. Gustavson: Can you sing a little bit from some of your new music, which is just as amusing and everything as that song was back then. We’ve all gotten an email from Nigeria. Sing a little bit from “Santa’s Email from Nigeria”, if you would?

Dr. Elmo: [sings]When your arrears up-rear yah,Like bird flu or diptheria,Hope Santa won’t bum steer yah,With an email from Nigeria.

Dr. Gustavson: all right. I assume you’ve also gotten emails from Nigeria. Have you answered any of them?

Dr. Elmo: Well, now, whenever I receive an email from Nigeria, I always send them a link to my song.

Dr. Gustavson: [laughs] Nice. And you’re also a marathoner. I hear that you ran the New York marathon this year. Do you sing when you hit the wall at 20 miles?

Dr. Elmo: [laughs] That’s the last thing that comes out of me when I hit 20 or 21 miles. You won’t be hearing anything out of me other than heavy breathing.

Dr. Gustavson: [laughs] What are you working on now?

Dr. Elmo: I’m working on a new album. I make a new Christmas album every year. I’m working on a new album. I have a new Halloween album that we just had out in the last year. That was our last project. It involved a lot of writing that I thought was our cleverest one yet.

Dr. Gustavson: And where can we find your music online and in stores? What’s your website?

Dr. Elmo: It’s online. My website is drelmo.com which is just D-R-E-L-M-O or drelmo.com. My music is available at all Wal-Mart stores and pretty much stores all over the country. That’s by Wal-Mart and most of the rest of them as well.

Dr. Gustavson: And we can find it everywhere, I can assure you. Let’s listen to a little bit of “Grandma’s Killer Fruitcake.” We’ve got it cued up here. Let’s listen.

Dr. Elmo: OK.[Musical interlude]”Holidays were upon us, And things were going fine.’Til the day I heard the doorbell, and a chill went up my spine.I grabbed the wife and children, and as the postman wheeled it in.I fear the Christmas nightmare has come back again.”"It was harder than a heavy, hocky pucky, heavy as a sermon, if you’re lucky.One’s enough to give the whole state of Kentucky a great big belly ache.It was denser than a drove of barnyard turkeys. Tougher than a truckload of all beef jerkies.Drier than drought in Albuquerque. Grandma’s killer fruitcake.” [trails off but plays in background]

Dr. Gustavson: I love your songs. I’ve been a follower for many years and a lot of us have loved your songs even though we might not necessarily have known who you were. We’re going to check out your website at drelmo.com. What are you doing for Christmas this year?

Dr. Elmo: Well, I’m on a tour right now, but I’m going to be home. I’m in Rochester, New York. I’m in Binghamton, New York, sorry, and I’m playing with Brenda Lee tonight in a concert. Then we play in Syracuse and then I fly back to California. I have a couple of my own concerts back in Marin County, California. That will be on Christmas Eve.

Dr. Gustavson: So we’ll keep tabs on you at drelmo.com. Thank you so much for being on the show.

Dr. Elmo: Thank you, Dr. Kent. It was my pleasure.

Dr. Gustavson: And thank you to everyone who was on the show today: Natalia Ippolito, Bob Goodrich, Jon Paul Hutchins and Dr. Elmo. Thank you to engineer Anthony Farabee, host guru Sonia Darte, Executive Producer Charlavan Hart, Sound Engineer Reuben Columbe, and Randy Jackman with e-cards.Be safe and have a happy holidays. We’ll see you next week. Visit us on the web at soundauthors.com.[Musical interlude]

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