Friday, June 30, 2006

"I Am My Own Grandpa"



There aren't really many songs with a genealogy theme. The most well-known is "I Am My Own Grandpa" written by Dwight Latham and Moe Jaffe, and performed by several artisits in the 1950's and 1960's, including Lonzo and Oscar and Homer and Jethro. The lyrics are:

"I Am My Own Grandpa"

Many many years ago, when I was twenty three,
I got married to a widow, who was pretty as could be.

This widow had a grown-up daughter, Who had hair of red.
My father fell in love with her, And soon the two were wed.

This made my dad my son-in-law, And changed my very life.
My daughter was my mother, For she was my father's wife.

To complicate the matters worse, Although it brought me joy.
I soon became the father, Of a bouncing baby boy.

My little baby then became, A brother-in-law to dad.
And so became my uncle, Though it made me very sad.

For if he was my uncle, Then that also made him brother
To the widow's grown-up daughter, Who, of course, was my step-mother.

Father's wife then had a son, Who kept them on the run.
And he became my grandson, For he was my daughter's son.

My wife is now my mother's mother, And it makes me blue.
Because, although she is my wife, She's my grandma too.

If my wife is my grandmother, Then I am her grandchild.
And every time I think of it, It simply drives me wild.

For now I have become, The strangest case you ever saw.
As the husband of my grandmother, I am my own grandpa!!


When I played a tape of this at my genealogy society, I also showed the home-made pedigree chart below and pointed out each relationship - it all finally made sense!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

2fJqlA The best blog you have!

paulcito said...

Love It!

paulcito said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Amanda Michelle said...

Okay.. So today in class we did this, it was an option there were a few other options... Anyways, I chose this because I was more interested whenever he said I am my own Grandpa.. It's crazy... I looked at my teacher and I said Insest much? And everybody in the class just laughed their asses off.. I'm on my mobile right now.. Someone please comment and explain deeper to me? It really confuses me.. That's like screwing every family member he has!! That is so sick.. It made me interested in the first line
" Many, many years ago when I was twenty-three I was married to a whidow who was pretty as could be this widow had a grown-up daughter who had hair of red My father fell in love with her and soon the two were wed.."
It really caught my attention.. I have this whole thing memorized.. I have made a pedigree chart myself but it still confuses me.. Someone get back to me as soon as possible please??
Thanks!! :)

Rick C. said...

There's no incest involved. He (23) married the widow (46), and his father (46) married the widow's daughter (23). Each couple had a son. The rest is labels.

The person married to your daughter is called your son-in-law. In this case, his father married his daughter. So his father is both father AND son-in-law.

Technically, his daughter is his step-mother, because she is married to his father, but is not his biological mother.

The verses about the singer's [son/uncle/dad's brother-in-law] and the verses about the father's [son/singer's grandchild] are not relevant to the main theme of the song. They're just fun and add to the confusion.

To clarify:

When I was 23, I married a 46-year-old widow, who had a 23-year-old daughter from her first marriage. She became my adopted daughter.

My father married my adopted daughter. My father's new wife is called my step-mother.

My wife is the mother to my stepmother (adopted daughter), which makes her my mother's mother, or my grandmother.

Since my wife is my grandmother, I am her grandson.

As husband of my grandmother, I am the grandfather to my wife's grandson.

I am my own grandpa.

Whew.