“I’m My Own Grandpa” – the very phrase conjures up images of genealogical absurdity and comedic confusion. This beloved novelty song, a true masterpiece of quirky songwriting, was brought to life by the talented duo of Dwight Latham and Moe Jaffe. It was first immortalized on record by Latham’s own vocal group, The Jesters, who were a familiar sound to radio listeners in the 1930s through their regular NBC show.
Latham himself recounted that the seed of the song was sown when he stumbled upon the original anecdote within a collection of writings attributed to Mark Twain. Sharing this amusing story on air, he received such a positive response that it inspired him to collaborate with Jaffe to transform it into the song we know today. In 1947, The Jesters laid down the first recording. However, their version quickly faded into the wings as country comedy stars Lonzo and Oscar stepped into the limelight. They covered the song, turning it into a massive, career-defining hit that cemented their legacy as the performers most closely associated with “I’m My Own Grandpa”.
Lonzo and Oscar’s story, beyond this hit, is one of steady, if not spectacular, success. Regularly opening for Eddie Arnold on tour, they garnered enough popularity to weather personnel changes. When the original Lonzo (Lloyd George – not that Lloyd George, as the old joke goes) departed, a new Lonzo stepped in, and others followed in later years. Yet, lightning never quite struck twice; they never achieved another song that reached the dizzying heights of “I’m My Own Grandpa”.
Adding a further layer of intrigue, the widely believed origin of the anecdote – Mark Twain – turns out to be a delightful piece of misinformation. Despite being attributed to the celebrated author, the story predates Twain’s birth. It’s absent from his collected works, and its association with him appears to stem from its inclusion in 19th-century anthologies that also featured excerpts of Twain’s writings. A charming example of this misattribution can be seen in American Bibliopolist, pictured below.
Personally, my introduction to “I’m My Own Grandpa” might have been through Erik Frandsen at the Speakeasy in MacDougal Street, though memory may be playing tricks. Regardless, I incorporated it into my repertoire by the early 1980s. It consistently received an enthusiastic reception – a testament to the song’s enduringly hilarious lyrics. If there is a more foolproof crowd-pleaser in the American songbook, I am yet to discover it.
In a final twist that echoes the song’s familial pretzel logic, a real-life parallel exists in the realm of rock royalty. During Bill Wyman’s marriage to Mandy Smith, his son Stephen married Mandy’s mother. This momentarily made the Rolling Stone bassist, the man behind “Je Suis un Rock Star,” his own grandpa! While some sources dispute the timeline, claiming Bill and Mandy were already divorced when Stephen married her mother, we’ll stick with the Daily Mail‘s version – a bastion of truth – for the sheer delightful absurdity of it all. It perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the song “I’m My Own Grandpa,” proving that sometimes, life really does imitate art, in the most wonderfully bizarre ways.
