Very popular song in the South

October 2, 2006 5:40 AM

I'm My Own Grandpa^(embedded audio) is a funny and head-scratching song about, well, being your own grandpa (hint: dad's to blame). There's a video using footage from The Sims, which includes a cover by Ray Stevens. Bonus points if you can figure it all out the first time you listen.
posted by zardoz (22 comments total)

Surprisingly, no time-travel is involved, unlike in the case of Futurama's Fry, who literally is his own grandfather. It's a genealogical knot due to the convention of "copying" for oneself a relation to one's spouses relations. If one's marital relatives were also one's own blood relatives prior to the marriage, then to the question "how am I related to X" there are two possible answers, one for oneself, one through one's spouse.

Genealogical relationships are a logical system, so a whole raft of such puzzles can be derived, eg: "by what process could I become my own brother-in-law? my own cousin?" I suppose it would also be possible to work out what relationships are impossible, which is analogous to, say, a chessboard puzzle where some positions can never be validly created from the starting setup.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 5:59 AM on October 2, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

That's a weak bare-bones Wikipedia entry. No mention of the song in Episode 113 of "The Muppet Show"? Or how about its use in the (deservedly?) underrated Tom Arnold vehicle The Stupids?

To the Editmobile!
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:03 AM on October 2, 2006

Fun song, but it's more a case of "I'm my own step-grandpa" isn't it? Since he's married to his stepmother's mother?

</pedantic>
posted by antifuse at 6:12 AM on October 2, 2006

They always played this at every Saint Paul Saints games and it annoyed the heck out of me. UGH, and now it comes back to haunt me.
posted by wheelieman at 6:27 AM on October 2, 2006

Very popular song in the South

Har. Har.
posted by wells at 6:43 AM on October 2, 2006

I've always wondered why intra-family marrying has always been considered a Southern construction, as it really is only popular in one place, Appalachia, which is hardly "The South", and is at least as common (if not more so) among some immigrant populations that have historically inhabited the Northeast.
posted by Ynoxas at 7:13 AM on October 2, 2006

It has nothing on the calypso song Shame and Scandal in the Family.
posted by Astro Zombie at 8:19 AM on October 2, 2006

... as it really is only popular in one place, Appalachia...

And the palaces of Europe.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:22 AM on October 2, 2006

... as it really is only popular in one place, Appalachia...

And the palaces of Europe.

... and good ol classical India as well!

As everyone knows, dad-marrying-your-wife's-daughter is also the plot[1] behind the final story in the Vikram-Betal stories, that still wildly popular collection of stories that is one of the few remaining writings from that extinct "devil" language, Paisaci.

So if you guys couldn't figure out the genealogical leanings in the song, fret not! It stumped even the great King Vikrama, who, truth be told, is quite likely more wiser and knowledgeable than you'll ever be, given that, unlike you, he had successfully traversed dharmic law through magic, sorcery, head transplants and transvestitism.

_{[1] - Eh, sorry for spoiling the stories if you haven't read them as yet, but really, you're 1600 years too late.}
posted by the cydonian at 8:57 AM on October 2, 2006

My high school biology teacher sang that song at the beginning of our genetics unit to demonstrate... something. It wasn't ever clear what, exactly.

It did make us all think he was creepy.
posted by thethirdman at 9:10 AM on October 2, 2006

That's nothing. You should hear Fiddling Frenchie Burke do "Mama's Picture."
posted by fourcheesemac at 9:14 AM on October 2, 2006

Or Billy C. Wirtz do "Inbred in the USA."
posted by fourcheesemac at 9:15 AM on October 2, 2006

Now why would this be limited to a concept of Appalachia? There's no incest going on in the song.

The initial set up is a man's wife's daughter from a previous marriage marrying his father. Odd, but no genetic problems.
posted by linux at 9:41 AM on October 2, 2006

... as it really is only popular in one place, Appalachia...

It's actually demographically interesting. Parts of the South, yes, but also the Northeast and Southwest permit first-cousin marriage. Arkansas is not among them. Nor is West Virginia, the heart of Appalachia. Then there's the with-careful-exceptions outlier in the Midwest.

Cute link (from the Wikipedia article) has charts!

See also All You Zombies.
posted by dhartung at 12:22 PM on October 2, 2006

^ always makes me smile.
posted by jeffburdges at 2:32 PM on October 2, 2006

I used to love this song when I was a kid! I grew up in Maryland, but my mom was a big-time folkie.
posted by etoile at 4:31 PM on October 2, 2006

Ha! Reminds me of a situation in our family.

My dad's brother's wife, and my cousin's husband, are siblings. Said cousin is the daughter of another sibling of my dad's. So in essence my uncle's nephew is also his brother-in-law, his niece his sister-in-law, his wife his niece. Or something.

Also, my parents are first cousins. So my dad's my uncle and my mum's my aunt. Yay.
posted by divabat at 1:41 AM on October 3, 2006

divabat: that's simply delightful.

My personal opinion is that as long as genetic counseling is done to be aware of possible procreative issues, or if one or both of the people are sterilized, I have no problem with cousins marrying. Genetic counseling is neither difficult nor particularly expensive in this day and age.

fourcheesemac: That's REVEREND Billy C. Wirtz to you. It's awesome you know of him. He is a guilty pleasure. I've seen him in person 3 times, each time fantastic.
posted by Ynoxas at 7:18 AM on October 3, 2006

the (deservedly?) underrated Tom Arnold vehicle The Stupids

Not deservedly. The Stupids is great and is based off of some of my favorite kid's books. The part where he disguises himself as a plant and forgets he is a human is one of the funniest bits I've ever seen.
posted by sonofsamiam at 7:45 AM on October 3, 2006

Ynoxas: eh, there aren't actually that many complications with cousins intermarrying. I know for sure that my sister and I aren't handicapped or disabled (or whatever it is they like to peg inbred people with), and there has been children of cousin marriages in my life that are perfectly fine. The risk is very very small. And it's also a cultural thing anyway, genetic counselling would have been unheard of.
posted by divabat at 7:18 AM on October 5, 2006

divabat: I agree, the chances are small. But since they do exist, I think it should be done.

Truth be told, I think genetic testing/counseling should be done for all births. I've advocated that in childbearing threads. I think parents have not a right but a DUTY to know if the child they are carrying has some sort of genetic affliction.

Also, to be clear, I was not being sarcastic when I said your family situation was "simply delightful".
posted by Ynoxas at 7:16 PM on October 6, 2006

Ynoxas: point taken, but in many cultures and countries where cousin marriages are common, genetic counselling is unavailable - indeed, it's not even a known concept.
posted by divabat at 8:26 PM on October 6, 2006