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‘Grandma’ starts to catch on
《奶奶被驯鹿撞死了》开始流行起来
A few months after Mr. Brooks’s brief encounter with Elmo & Patsy, he received a cassette in the mail of the couple singing his song.
布鲁克斯与埃尔莫和帕齐萍水相逢几个月后，他收到了两人寄来的一盘磁带，里面是这对夫妇唱的他的那首歌。
They wanted to release “Grandma” as a 45 single.
他们想把《奶奶》作为45转单曲发行。（注：45转指唱片的转速，这种转速一般用来录单曲。）
“That was really exciting because my name was going to be on a record label,” recalled Mr. Brooks, 76, who still plays in bands around Dallas, where he lives.
“那让我很兴奋，因为我的名字将出现在唱片标签上，”现年76岁的布鲁克斯回忆道，他仍然在达拉斯附近玩乐队，他也住在达拉斯，
“Nobody other than me had sung one of my songs before.”
“除了我自己之外就没有别人唱过我的歌。”
At the time, Elmo & Patsy were a regional act, a kind of country Sonny and Cher who bantered onstage between songs.
当时，埃尔莫和帕齐是地方上的表演团体，有点像会在表演间隙，在舞台上互相打趣逗乐的乡村音乐版桑尼和雪儿。（注：桑尼和雪儿是著名流行摇滚组合。）
Ms. Trigg was the guitar player, and Mr. Shropshire played banjo.
特里格是吉他手，什罗普希尔演奏班卓琴。
By day, he owned a vet hospital in the Bay Area.
白天，他是旧金山湾区的一家动物医院的老板。
In 1979, the couple pressed 500 copies on their own label, Oink Records, and distributed them locally.
1979年，这对夫妇在他们的唱片公司“呼噜唱片”压制了500张唱片，并在当地发行。
Mr. Shropshire had no aspirations other than to make “a cute Christmas gag gift to give to a couple of my friends,” he said.
什罗普希尔说，除了做“一个可爱的圣诞恶搞礼物，送给几个朋友”之外，他没有其他野心。
Nevertheless, the couple sent their recording to Ms. Trigg’s parents in Tennessee, who ran a small music publishing company devoted to gospel and blues, and had the song copyrighted.
然而，这对夫妇把唱片寄给了在田纳西州的特里格的父母，他们经营着一家做福音和蓝调音乐的小型音乐出版公司，并注册了这首歌的版权。
This move would later prove critical, and lucrative; the Triggs’ company controlled the publishing — and royalties — rather than a record label or manager.
这一举措后来被证明是至关重要且赚钱的，特里格父母的公司而不是某个唱片公司或经理控制了这首歌的出版发行——以及版权费。
Accounts vary on how, but one way or another a copy of “Grandma” found its way to KSFO radio’s Gene Nelson, an influential San Francisco D. J. who had emceed the Beatles’ final concert, at Candlestick Park.
对于接下来这件事有不同的传闻，但无论是通过什么途径，《奶奶》的一张唱片到了KSFO电台的基因·尼尔森手中，他是一位很有影响力的旧金山DJ，主持过披头士乐队在烛台公园的最后一场音乐会。
Mr. Nelson played “Grandma” on the radio during the holidays that year, delighting Mr. Shropshire and Ms. Trigg.
那年圣诞假期，尼尔森在电台上播放了《奶奶》，这让什罗普希尔和特里格非常高兴。
The following December, Mr. Nelson played the song again, and a couple of stations taped it from KSFO and gave it airplay as well, Mr. Shropshire said.
什罗普希尔说，第二年的12月，尼尔森再次播放了这首歌，有几个电台从KSFO录制了这首歌，并且也在电台播放。
“Grandma” was beginning to catch on.
于是《奶奶》开始流行起来。
Over the next three years, “Grandma” reached an ever-wider audience during the holidays.
在接下来的三年里，《奶奶》在圣诞假期接触到了更广泛的观众。
Dr. Demento invited Elmo & Patsy to perform it on his popular radio show.
德门托博士邀请埃尔莫和帕齐在他的热门广播节目中表演这首歌。
The Gray Panthers, an advocacy group for seniors, protested the song, claiming it was ageist and hostile to grandmothers.
灰豹组织（一个倡导老年人权益的团体）抗议了这首歌，声称这首歌有年龄歧视，对奶奶们充满敌意。
Some stations refused to play the song, because it annoyed listeners and out of respect for those whose grandmothers had died around the holidays.
一些电台拒绝播放这首歌，因为听众对此很恼火，也因为要对那些在假期前后遭遇奶奶去世的人表示尊重。
The controversy and press only fueled its renown.
这些争议和媒体报道让它的名声只增不减。
Mr. Shropshire, who had aspirations for a music career, realized that he may have a hit on his hands.
什罗普希尔有音乐事业的抱负，他意识到自己手里可能有一首热门歌曲。
Elmo & Patsy signed a distribution deal with a company called Nationwide Sound to press 250,000 copies of the 45, he said.
他说，埃尔莫和帕齐与一家名为“全国音响”的公司签署了一份分销协议，压制了25万张45转唱片。
In 1983, Mr. Shropshire said, MTV put into heavy rotation the music video that he and Ms. Trigg had spent $30,000 to make and sent to the channel.
1983年，什罗普希尔说，音乐电视网多次循环播放了这首歌的MV，他和特里格花费了3万美元制作了MV，并寄到了该频道。
The video, which was shot in the couple’s home, starred Mr. Shropshire as grandpa and in drag as grandma, playing up the song’s goofiness.
MV是在这对夫妇家中拍摄的，由什罗普希尔饰演爷爷并反串奶奶，突出了这首歌的傻气。
For years, Elmo & Patsy had sent their single to major labels and were ignored.
多年来，埃尔莫和帕齐一直将他们的单曲寄给各大唱片公司，但都石沉大海。
But when “Grandma” hit the Billboard charts and the video began airing on MTV, the labels came calling.
但是当《奶奶》登上了公告牌排行榜，MV也开始在音乐电视网播放时，各大唱片公司纷纷打来电话。
Epic Records, home to Michael Jackson, released a full-length holiday album from the duo, titled after the hit song, in November 1984.
史诗唱片公司（迈克尔·杰克逊的东家）于1984年11月发行了这对组合的全长版本圣诞季专辑，专辑名称就是这首热门歌曲的名字。
By that Christmas, “Grandma” was inescapable.
到了那年圣诞节，《奶奶》已经无处不在了。
