All I Want for Christmas Is Not To Hear That Song

Christmas Music Observation No. 2: People aren't crazy about singing dogs.

Pinnacle has a much different list of "most hateds," reflecting differing survey methods. (Whereas Edison played 10-second snippets of 579 seasonal songs and asked respondents for their reactions, Pinnacle culled lists of the 30 most-played songs on stations with all-Christmas formats and ran those songs past sample groups. Pinnacle's respondents were subdivided by musical preference, meaning country fans judged one set of songs, "adult contemporary" listeners another list, etc.)

"Santa Baby" by Madonna, "Merry Christmas, Darling" by the Carpenters and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" by Bruce Springsteen popped up repeatedly among the despised (Springsteen? Despised?).

The only song that bobbed to the top of both most-disliked lists is "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."

Actually, "Grandma" is sort of like eggnog -- people either love it or hate it. It got relatively solid "loved" ratings in both the Edison and Pinnacle polls (47 percent and 32 percent, respectively) but also relatively high "hate" or "dislike" ratings (17 percent and 22 percent).

Local radio station WASH (97.1 FM), which plays Christmas music during the season, found something similar in its research, prompting it to drop the song from its playlist. "It was too polarizing," says Bill Hess, WASH's program director. "It wasn't strong, except with a few people, and it had a lot of negatives."

All of which comes as shocking news to one Elmo Shropshire, a.k.a. Dr. Elmo, a.k.a. Elmo. Back in 1979, the bluegrass musician was half of Elmo & Patsy, the duo that recorded "Grandma." Well, actually, Elmo claims Patsy, his ex-wife, never really sang on the record but was credited nevertheless. But that's another story.

Anyway, Shropshire, now 71 and living in the Bay Area, claims "Grandma" is a beloved holiday favorite. And by several measures he's right. Inspired by a tipsy relative of songwriter Randy Brooks's, "Grandma" has sold "well over" 10 million copies since a San Francisco radio station, KSFO, first put it on the air as a lark 28 years ago, he says.

Christmas Music Observation No. 3: Who knew?

The video of the song (made by Shropshire in his living room) was a holiday staple on MTV for many seasons. The recording has also been used on the soundtrack of the movies "Jarhead" and "Deck the Halls," and more recently has been incorporated into talking toys and a musical greeting card. "My royalties are four or five times what they were" 20 years ago, says a delighted Elmo.

Since retiring from his veterinary practice 10 years ago, Shropshire has devoted much of his time to tending the burgeoning "Grandma" empire. He performs the song with his bluegrass group year-round, even in the dead of July "if someone recognizes me" and requests it.

"A lot of younger people say it's not really Christmas until they hear it," he says.

On the other hand, Elmo reflects: "There must be a lot of people who think it's not a good, sentimental song."