The Song Credit Debacle and Mystery “Writer” Behind Chuck Berry’s 1958 Holiday Hit “Run Rudolph Run”

Shortly after Chuck Berry wrote “Run Rudolph Run” in 1958, it was credited to two writers who had nothing to do with writing the festive hit.

Once written, Berry realized that the name “Rudolph” was already trademarked by songwriter Johnny Marks, who penned the 1949 classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Marks sued Berry for the use of Rudolph’s name and was given credit on the song, along with another mysterious name, M. Brodie.

A “Bittersweet” Song

The latter name credited to the song, M. Brodie, does not belong to a real person. It was allegedly a pseudonym created by Marks to earn more money from the song through his publishing company St. Nicholas Music, Inc., according to Berry’s pianist Daryl Davis.

“I asked him about why ‘Run Run Rudolph’ was often credited to Johnny Marks and somebody named Brodie,” said Davis. “He said that he wrote the song himself but the name ‘Rudolph’ had been trademarked and the publishing company publishing his songs had been sued for his using it.”

David added, “He was perturbed that the publishing company didn’t fight the suit more vigorously, because Johnny Marks had nothing to do with his song and now he had to share the copyright. He also said that Brodie did not exist and it was a scheme to make more money for Marks and his publisher. He regretted not pursuing it more at the time, but he still continued to make a lot of money from the song, just not as much as he was entitled to make. It was a bittersweet song for him.”

Marvin Broadie?

The third mystery writer, M. Brodie, has also been listed as Marvin Broadie under the ASCAP database. The only artist with this name is singer Marvin Lee Broadie of the 1990s R&B group The Soultans, who would not have been old enough to be a co-writer with Berry on the song during the late 1950s.

Randolph

In the song, Berry is showing another side to Rudolph as the leader of the pack, the mastermind.

Out of all the reindeers you know you are the mastermind
Run, run Rudolph, Randolph ain’t too far behind
Run, run Rudolph, Santa’s gotta make it to town
Santa, make him hurry, tell him he can take the freeway down
Run, run Rudolph ’cause I’m reelin’ like a merry-go-round

Said Santa to a boy child, “What have you been longin’ for?”
“All I want for Christmas is a rock ‘n’ roll ‘lectric guitar”
And then away went Rudolph whizzin’ like a shootin’ star

Run, run Rudolph, Santa’s has to make it in town
Santa, make him hurry, tell him he can take the freeway down
Run, run Rudolph, reelin’ like a merry-go-round

Berry never references the original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer cohorts from Marks’ original song, including Prancer, Donner, Blitzen, Dasher, Dancer, or Vixen. Instead, Berry mentions Randolph the reindeer, which may have been a humorous nod to Homer and Jethro’s 1953 country song “Randolph The Flat-Nosed Reindeer.”

Once released, Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” went to No. 69 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song reentered the chart in 2019 and eventually peaked at No. 10 in 2021 62 years after its original chart debut.

Photo: Terry Fincher/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images