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 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.

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.

A version by Guy Lombardo and The Guy Lombardo Trio became a hit in 1948. 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". Another American country singer, Willie Nelson performed the song on his 2001 album "The Rainbow Connection". This song was also performed by Grandpa Jones and he used to sing it on the Grand Ole Opry and on the TV show Hee-Haw. Also later recorded on the album "Home is where the heart is" by David Grisman. It's also one of the songs on Michael Cooney's album of songs for children.

Genealogy

Although the song continues to mention that both the narrator's wife and daughter 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 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-)grandfather.

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 site was from the "Republican Chronicle" of Ithaca, N. Y., Apr. 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; the question asks to describe the relationship of the children to each other. Alcuin's solution is that the children are uncle and nephew to each other; he does not draw attention to the grandparental relationship.

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 as one of his favorite songs as a child.
*"Roswell That Ends Well", an episode of "Futurama" in which Fry becomes his own grandfather by traveling back in time and impregnating his grandmother. Professor Farnsworth calls him "Mr. I'm My Own Grandpa".
*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.

External links

* [http://www.deaddisc.com/songs/Im_My_Own_Grandpa.htm DeadDisc list of cover versions]