In the song, the narrator marries a widow

Widow

A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...

 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 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

Ithaca, New York

The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...

 on April 24, 1822 and that was copied from the London Literary Gazette

Literary Gazette

The Literary Gazette was a British literary magazine, established in London in 1817 with its full title being The Literary Gazette, and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences. Sometimes it appeared with the caption title, "London Literary Gazette". It was founded by the publisher Henry Colburn,...

:

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

Bill Wyman

Bill Wyman is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1992. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings...

/Mandy Smith

Mandy Smith

Mandy Smith is an English dance-pop singer, former model and aspiring counsellor.-Early life:In 1983, at age 13 she started dating 47-year-old The Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman, with the consent of her mother...

 affair (including his son and her mother) being one celebrity example.

The situation is included in a set of problems written attributed to Alcuin

Alcuin

Alcuin of York or Ealhwine, nicknamed Albinus or Flaccus was an English scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York...

 of York, and also in the final story in Baital Pachisi

Baital Pachisi

Baital Pachisi or Vetala Panchavimshati , is a collection of tales and legends within a frame story, from India. It was originally written in Sanskrit....

; 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

Guy Lombardo

Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo was a Canadian-American bandleader and violinist.Forming "The Royal Canadians" in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert, and Victor and other musicians from his hometown, Lombardo led the group to international success, billing themselves as creating "The Sweetest...

 and The Guy Lombardo Trio became a hit in 1948. The song was also recorded by Phil Harris

Phil Harris

Harris and Faye married in 1941; it was a second marriage for both and lasted 54 years, until Harris's death. Harris engaged in a fistfight at the Trocadero nightclub in 1938 with RKO studio mogul Bob Stevens; the cause was reported to be over Faye after Stevens and Faye had ended a romantic...

 (as "He's His Own Grandpa"), Jo Stafford

Jo Stafford

Jo Elizabeth Stafford was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards and occasional actress whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s...

 (as "I'm My Own Grandmaw"), and Homer and Jethro

Homer and Jethro

Homer and Jethro were the stage names of American country music duo Henry D. Haynes and Kenneth C. Burns , popular from the 1940s through the 1960s on radio and television for their satirical versions of popular songs...

.

A 1976 episode of The Muppet Show

The Muppet Show

The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...

includes a skit in which the song is performed by the all-Muppet Gogolala Jubilee Jugband. In the movie The Stupids

The Stupids (film)

The Stupids is a 1996 American comedy/adventure film directed by John Landis. The film is based on The Stupids, characters from a series of books written by Harry Allard and illustrated by James Marshall....

, Stanley Stupid, portrayed by Tom Arnold

Tom Arnold (actor)

Thomas Dwaine "Tom" Arnold is an American actor and comedian. He has appeared in many films, perhaps most notably True Lies . He was the host of The Best Damn Sports Show Period for four years.-Early life:...

, 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

Ray Stevens

Ray Stevens is an American country music, pop singer-songwriter who has become known for his novelty songs.-Early career:...

, and can be heard on his 1987 album Crackin' Up

Crackin' Up

-Album credits:As listed in liner notes.*Produced and arranged by: Ray Stevens*Recorded at: Ray Stevens Studio, Nashville, Tennessee*Engineer: Stuart Keathley*Mastered by: Glenn Meadows at Masterfonics*Mixed and mastered using the JVC Digital Mastering System...

. Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson

Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

 performed the song on his 2001 album The Rainbow Connection. This song was also performed by Grandpa Jones

Grandpa Jones

Louis Marshall Jones , known professionally as Grandpa Jones, was an American banjo player and "old time" country and gospel music singer...

, who sang it both at the Grand Ole Opry

Grand Ole Opry

The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...

 and on the TV show Hee Haw

Hee Haw

Hee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 20-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being...

. It was also later recorded on the album Home is Where the Heart Is by David Grisman

David Grisman

David Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...

 and on Michael Cooney's album of songs for children. Folk singer Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman was an American folk music singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. The writer of "City of New Orleans", made popular by Arlo Guthrie, Goodman won two Grammy Awards.-Personal life:...

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.

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.