5 Famous Songs That Got Ridiculous Sequels

5 ‘Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer’

Artists release new Christmas music every year, and we immediately discard and forget these songs. After Mariah Carey released “All I Want for Christmas Is You” 30 years ago, we decided we never need a new Christmas song again, and the most recent one before that to stick was the 40-year-old “Last Christmas” by Wham. Before that, it was probably the 1979 novelty song “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” 

You might not be able to name the artist behind that song offhand. It was Elmo & Patsy, a husband-and-wife duo. Much like Grandma and Grandpa, their relationship was doomed, theirs by divorce. Elmo Shropshire continued as a solo act, spending much of his remaining life dodging lawsuits over using the song while retaining dubious ownership over it. He rerecorded it multiple times to try to get his hands back on the masters, a trick recently made famous by Taylor Swift. 

In 1992, Shropshire released a sequel called “Grandpa’s Gonna Sue the Pants Off of Santa,” which ignores the twist in the above music video, which says Grandma survived the accident. Grandpa sues Santa for wrongful death, and he wins, but he gets just a TV for his troubles because most of the payoff goes to attorney’s fees. The subject probably reflects Shropshire’s own legal battles rather than whatever the public would find most entertaining. 

That song was on an album that also featured “Grandma's Spending Christmas with the Superstars,” about Grandma up in heaven. It also has a song called “Grandma’s Killer Fruitcake,” about a totally unrelated grandma who’s alive and well. That’s because the guy was surely sick of this universe he’d created, which is why the album ends with a song called “Don’t Make Me Play that Grandma Song Again.”

4 ‘The Purple People Eater’

Two of the most famous novelty songs ever came out in the same year — 1958. They were “The Purple People Eater” by Sheb Wooley and “Witch Doctor” by David Seville, both featuring sped-up recordings and both ultimately destined to become children’s songs because of their catchy choruses. 

“Witch Doctor” topped the charts in April, and “Purple People Eater” topped the charts in June. The music industry moves fast, and later that summer, Gold Star Studios released a song called “The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor.” 

This one didn’t have a catchy chorus at all. It contained the same “Ooh eeh”s sung by the witch doctor but now scattered without rhythm around guitar sounds you can’t sing along to. Here, the Purple People Eater has fulfilled his dream of starting a rock ‘n’ roll band, but the lyrics refer to both characters as aliens, violating established canon. 

The song didn’t become a hit as hoped. But the B-side of the record was “Chantilly Lace,” which did become a hit, so the label reissued the single with that now on the A-side. Below is the music video for “Chantilly Lace,” which is extremely erotic, so don’t watch it at work. Shot just months before the Big Bopper died in the same crash as Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, this is actually noted as the first music video ever. 

The Big Bopper is also credited with coining the very name “music video.” Though, that part isn’t so impressive when you think about it. It’s really more of a placeholder description than a name. 

3 ‘Here Comes the Sun’

You’ve all heard the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” right? A song that promises hope and relief after a time of darkness?

A decade after writing that, George Harrison penned a follow-up called “Here Comes the Moon.” The Moon’s arrival, unlike sunrise, offers no hope at all. Yes, the Moon itself is very pretty and an inspiration to the lovestruck everywhere, but no one particularly looks forward to its approach. Judging by the lyrics of the song, Harrison was really struggling to find that much inspiration in it at all. 

Looks like a little brother to the sun
Or mother to the stars at night
And here it is and here it comes

The important question you’re all asking now is, “What drugs was he on when he wrote this?” You’re absolutely right to conclude that he was on drugs, but Harrison was later unable to recall which drugs exactly. He was in Maui and was either on LSD or shrooms. He couldn’t remember which because, you see, he was on drugs at the time. 

The song didn’t heal the world. As for “Here Comes the Sun,” a cover version of it played at the end of Bee Movie after Harrison’s death, and that’s the highest honor anyone can ask for. 

2 ‘It’s My Party’

Up next is the rare example of a sequel song that actually did see success, to the point that it’s nearly as well known as the original. In 1963, Lesley Gore recorded “It’s My Party,” the classic tale about how one’s right to weep depends on whether they are the host.

Johnny leaves a birthday party with Judy, snubbing birthday girl Lesley. Then, adding to the insult, they return together, presumably after hooking up in the bushes. 

Just a few months after recording that song, Gore put out her album containing the follow-up “Judy’s Turn to Cry,” which reveals what happens next at the party. Instead of confronting Johnny about the betrayal, Lesley now kisses someone else, prompting Johnny to hit the guy and return to her. The beaten guy is the true injured party here, as he did nothing wrong as far as he knew and indeed didn’t actively do anything at all. 

It all comes off as silly teenage antics as relayed by one more 1960s rock and roll star pretending to still be in high school, until you learn Lesley Gore genuinely was a high school junior when she recorded these songs. 

Like we said, “Judy’s Turn to Cry” was a hit. But it wasn’t exactly the only follow-up that “It’s My Party” got. Having succeeded at one song about crying, Gore followed it up with not just one song about someone else crying but an entire album about crying. 

The album was titled I'll Cry If I Want To (many people thought the original song’s full title was “It’s My Party, and I’ll Cry If I Want To”), and along with the two songs we mentioned, it had her covering “Cry Me a River.” And doing a song called “Cry and You Cry Alone.” And one called “Just Let Me Cry.” And one called “No More Tears (Left to Cry).” And, of course, her version of that famous song simply titled “Cry.” 

The album ends with a song called “The Party’s Over,” which is another cover but works as yet another follow-up to “It’s My Party.” It might all sound a bit repetitive, but she put out four albums in just two years while still in high school, and that gets a little easier when you work from templates. 

1 ‘Yes! We Have No Bananas’

You might be having increasing trouble relating to these songs as they move backward in time. You may then struggle the most to relate to this 1923 hit, “Yes! We Have No Bananas.” 

In those days, a song didn’t merely become popular because someone recorded it, the radio played it and people bought copies. “Yes! We Have No Bananas” became famous because of that (the above version is by Billy Jones), but also from people buying the song as sheet music. “Bananas” is said to be one of the most successful pieces of sheet music ever, outside of public domain stuff. Songs also became popular by being performed onstage, by vaudeville singers unrelated to whoever sang on the gramophone record. “Bananas,” besides being recorded by various artists, was made famous onstage by Eddie Cantor. 

That same year, 1923, Cantor recorded a song called “I’ve Got the Yes! We Have No Bananas Blues.” It’s about someone sick of “Yes! We Have No Bananas,” in the vein of that all-time smash “Don’t Make Me Play that Grandma Song Again.” 

Various recordings of “Yes! We Have No Bananas” ranked as the fourth, tenth and twenty-fifth biggest songs of 1923. And “I’ve Got the Yes! We Have No Bananas Blues”? It ranked right along with them, coming in as the fifteenth biggest song of the year. 

Let that be a lesson: “I hate what’s popular” is an extremely popular message. 

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