I'm My Own Grandpa

"I'm My Own Grandpa" (sometimes rendered as "I'm My Own Grandpaw") is a novelty song written by Dwight Latham and Moe Jaffe, performed by Lonzo and Oscar in 1947, about a man who, through an unlikely (but legal) combination of marriages, becomes stepfather to his own stepmother — that is, tacitly dropping the "step-" modifiers, he becomes his own grandfather.

In the '30s, Latham had a group, the Jesters, on network radio; their specialties were bits of spoken humor and novelty songs. While reading a book of Mark Twain anecdotes, he once found a paragraph in which Twain proved it would be possible for a man to become his own grandfather. In 1947, Latham and Jaffe expanded the idea into a song, which became a hit for Lonzo and Oscar.

Genealogy

Narrator — Wife       |

Father — Stepdaughter       |

Narrator

Family tree showing how
the narrator of the song
is his own grandfather.

In the song, the narrator marries a widow with an adult daughter. Subsequently, his father marries the widow's daughter. This creates a comic tangle of relationships by a mixture of blood and marriage; for example, the narrator's father is now also his stepson-in-law. The situation is complicated further when both couples have children.

Although the song continues to mention that both the narrator's wife and stepdaughter had children by the narrator and his father, respectively, the narrator actually becomes "his own grandpa" once his father marries the woman's daughter.

• The narrator marries the older woman.
  • This results in the woman's daughter becoming his stepdaughter.
• Subsequently, the narrator's father marries the older woman's daughter.
  • The woman's daughter, being the new wife of the narrator's father, is now both his stepdaughter and his stepmother. Concurrently, the narrator's father, being his stepdaughter's husband, is also his own stepson-in-law.
    • The narrator's wife, being the mother of his stepmother, makes her both spouse and step-grandmother.
      • The husband of the narrator's wife would then be the narrator's step-grandfather. Since the narrator is that person, he has managed to become his own (step-step)grandfather. The "step-step" concept applies because the step-father of your step-mother would be your step-step-grandfather, making a "double step" event possible.

The song continues with

• The narrator and his wife having a son.
  • The narrator's son immediately becomes the half-brother of his stepdaughter, as the narrator's wife is the mother of both.
    • Since his stepdaughter is also his stepmother, then the narrator's son is also his own step-and/or half-uncle because he is the (half-)brother of his (step-)mother.
      • The Narrator's son would then become a brother-in-law to the narrator's father, because he is the (half-)brother of the father's wife.
• The narrator's father and his wife (the narrator's stepdaughter) then had a son of their own.
  • The child would then become the narrator's grandson because he is the son of his (step-)daughter.
    • The son would also become the (half-)brother of the narrator because his father is also the narrator's.

Real-life incidents

According to an article by James Pylant at genealogymagazine.com, the song was inspired by an anecdote that has been published periodically by newspapers for well over 150 years. The earliest citation was from the Republican Chronicle of Ithaca, New York on April 24, 1822 and that was copied from the London Literary Gazette:

A proof that a man may be his own Grandfather.—There was a widow and her daughter-in-law, and a man and his son. The widow married the son, and the daughter the old man; the widow was, therefore, mother to her husband's father, consequently grandmother to her own husband. They had a son, to whom she was great-grandmother; now, as the son of a great-grandmother must be either a grandfather or great-uncle, this boy was therefore his own grandfather. N. B. This was actually the case with a boy at a school in Norwich.

While not frequent, situations such as this do occur occasionally in life, the Bill Wyman/Mandy Smith affair (including his son and her mother) being one celebrity example.

The situation is included in a set of problems written attributed to Alcuin of York, and also in the final story in Baital Pachisi; the question asks to describe the relationship of the children to each other. Alcuin's solution is that the children are simultaneously uncle and nephew to each other; he does not draw attention to the relationships of the other characters.

Cover Versions

A version by Guy Lombardo and The Guy Lombardo Trio became a hit in 1948. The song was also recorded by Phil Harris (as "He's His Own Grandpa"), Jo Stafford (as "I'm My Own Grandmaw"), and Homer and Jethro.

A 1976 episode of The Muppet Show includes a skit in which the song is performed by the all-Muppet Gogolala Jubilee Jugband. In the movie The Stupids, Stanley Stupid, portrayed by Tom Arnold, sings "I'm My Own Grandpa" while on a talk show about strange families. The song was performed by American country music singer Ray Stevens, and can be heard on his 1987 album Crackin' Up. Willie Nelson performed the song on his 2001 album The Rainbow Connection. This song was also performed by Grandpa Jones, who sang it both at the Grand Ole Opry and on the TV show Hee Haw. It was also later recorded on the album Home is Where the Heart Is by David Grisman and on Michael Cooney's album of songs for children. Folk singer Steve Goodman included it in his live shows, but did not release an official recording of the song. This song has also been recorded by an Australian Comedy Country Artist Chad Morgan and appears on an album "Sheilas, Drongos, Dills and Other Geezers" and also Australian Country Artist, Melinda Schneider with the Schneider Sisters.

References in other media

• In the Robert A. Heinlein story "—All You Zombies—", the bartender, a time-traveling hermaphrodite who is his/her own father and mother demands that this song, playing on the jukebox, be stopped.
• Sung on season one of The Muppet Show, in the episode starring Bruce Forsyth (series 1 episode 13).
• Sung by Tom Arnold in the 1996 movie The Stupids.
• Mentioned by Johnny Cash in his 1997 book Cash: The Autobiography as one of his favorite songs as a child.
• 2GB's Continuous Call Team play this song on their weekend rugby league radio show and have also have a version performed by The Robertson Brothers.
• An Italian prank email tells about a guy who uses exactly this family situation as a way to avoid conscription. This is because in Italy an old law forbids the "father, son and nephew" of a same family to attend the military service at the same time.
• In the Sabrina, the Teenage Witch episode The Competition, Josh says "If I become my dad and my dad becomes me am I my own grandpa?".
• In the 19th episode of the third season of Futurama, "Roswell That Ends Well," Fry travels back in time and unknowingly copulates with his grandmother after accidentally killing his grandfather, thereby becoming his own grandfather. When he later warns of the possibility of changing the future, Professor Farnsworth retorts, "Oooh, a lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm My Own Grandpa!"
• In 1984, Norwegian folkrock singer Øystein Sunde released an album named "I husbukken tegn", which featured a song titled "Jeg er min egen bestefar" (I am my own grandfather). The song contains the same melody, but the lyrics have been translated.
• In The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, there is a book with the same title. Otherwise, there are no similarities.

External links

• DeadDisc list of cover versions
• I'm My Own Grandpaw Lyrics with Java illustration
• Public domain recording by the Jesters at Internet Archive.