20 Songs to Tell Grandpa a Baby Is Coming

Some dads narrate every feeling. Yours nods. He has cried maybe twice in the years you've been watching — a wedding, a funeral — and both times he claimed it was the wind. A grandpa pregnancy announcement for a man like that needs more than a card he can nod at: it needs a song that gets past the nod before he can put his guard up. Below are 20 real songs to tell grandpa a baby is coming, three reveals staged for men who own one good jacket, and one original song that says the actual words. If you're planning how to tell everyone else too, start with our pregnancy announcement songs hub.

Jump to: Listen to the grandpa song · Grandpa-and-grandkid songs · Father songs · Country picks · How to tell Dad · Common questions

Quick picks

• The classic with "Grandpa" in the first line: "Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout the Good Old Days)" — The Judds
• Best through a grandkid's eyes: "He Walked on Water" — Randy Travis
• Best for the dad who never cries: "Tough Little Boys" — Gary Allan
• Best country reveal: "There Goes My Life" — Kenny Chesney
• The one that says the actual words: a custom "you're going to be a grandpa" song with his name in it, $39.90, delivered in 24 to 48 hours

Listen: "You're Gonna Be A Grandpa"

Our grandma announcement song ends with an instruction: "Phone Dad. Tell him Grandpa's next." This is that phone call. "You're Gonna Be A Grandpa" opens with "Sit down, Dad" — sung to a man who never sits down — then moves through the pencil marks on the kitchen door, the fishing rods coming out of retirement, and the once-a-decade crying schedule he is about to blow early. The last line settles it: "Decade's crying quota — spent." The custom version is written around your actual news — his name, what the grandkids will call him, your due date.

20 songs for telling him he's going to be a grandpa

All twenty are real, verified songs about grandfathers, fathers, and the moment the generations turn over. Use one to set the moment up, or as the soundtrack under the reveal you stage below.

Grandpa-and-grandkid songs

1. "Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout the Good Old Days)" — The Judds. Jamie O'Hara wrote it, The Judds took it to No. 1 in 1986, and it is still the first song anyone reaches for when the word is "grandpa." Press play and let the title work.
2. "Grandpa Told Me So" — Kenny Chesney. A 1995 single from All I Need to Know about a grandson steering his whole life by his grandpa's advice. Your dad has been rehearsing that role on you for decades — tell him the new student arrives soon.
3. "Grandpa Was a Carpenter" — John Prine. Prine's two-minute tribute to his own grandfather, from 1973's Sweet Revenge, is a grandkid's-eye scrapbook of a working man. For the dad whose garage smells like sawdust — it pairs with the toolbox reveal below.
4. "In Color" — Jamey Johnson. A grandfather walks his grandson through his black-and-white photographs; it swept Song of the Year at the 2009 ACMs and CMAs. Your dad just became the man who will one day hold the photos.
5. "He Walked on Water" — Randy Travis. Allen Shamblin wrote this 1990 hit about the great-grandfather he idolized as a boy. It is the truest picture of how a grandkid sees an old man: ten feet tall and impossible.
6. "Grandad" — Clive Dunn. A pure-sentiment novelty that sat at No. 1 in the UK for three weeks in January 1971. If your family is British — or your dad just likes being fussed over — this is the wink.

Father songs that hit differently now

7. "Love Without End, Amen" — George Strait. Aaron Barker's song about a father's secret passed down the generations gave Strait his first multi-week No. 1 in 1990. He told you the secret when you were in trouble; now you get to hand it on.
8. "Daddy's Hands" — Holly Dunn. Dunn wrote it in 1986 as a Father's Day gift for her father. Play it and watch his hands — the ones that held your bicycle seat are about to hold something smaller.
9. "Tough Little Boys" — Gary Allan. Allan's 2003 No. 1 about how tough little boys grow up into soft dads. Your father melted once when you arrived; grandpa is the second melt, and it's faster.
10. "Watching You" — Rodney Atkins. The 2006 No. 1 about a little boy copying his father's every move. He spent years being studied by you — tell him a brand-new observer is on the way.
11. "Cat's in the Cradle" — Harry Chapin. Chapin's 1974 chart-topper about a father who ran out of time. Grandpa is the do-over the song never got — if your dad hears it that way, this one lands hardest of all.
12. "Teach Your Children" — Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Graham Nash's generational classic from 1970's Déjà Vu, floating on Jerry Garcia's pedal steel. Parents teach children, children teach parents — and the family classroom just enrolled one more.
13. "First Man" — Camila Cabello. Cabello sang this tribute to her father at the 2020 Grammys and the cameras caught him weeping in the front row. For a daughter telling her dad — imagine the live version in his kitchen.
14. "Sunrise, Sunset" — from Fiddler on the Roof. Bock and Harnick's 1964 meditation on how fast children grow, sung at a daughter's wedding. The little girl he carried is carrying — sixty years of weddings prove nobody survives this song dry-eyed.

Country picks for the big reveal

15. "There Goes My Life" — Kenny Chesney. Seven weeks at No. 1 across 2003 and 2004: a scared kid learns a baby is coming, then can't imagine life without her. It starts as a panic and ends as a love song — the arc every announcement hopes for.
16. "I Loved Her First" — Heartland. The 2006 No. 1 that became the father-daughter wedding standard. If he danced with you to it once, playing it again says half the news before you say a word.
17. "Just Fishin'" — Trace Adkins. A dad thinks out loud while his little girl watches her bobber; it earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Song in 2011. Built for the fishing-trip reveal below — play it on the drive to the lake.
18. "It Won't Be Like This for Long" — Darius Rucker. Rucker's 2009 No. 1 about how fast the newborn years vanish. A gentle warning for grandpa that the chaos he survived with you is circling back — except this time he can hand the baby back.
19. "Anything Like Me" — Brad Paisley. This 2010 No. 1 opens at the ultrasound appointment, with a father imagining the boy to come. It begins exactly where your news begins.
20. "Remember When" — Alan Jackson. Jackson wrote it for his wife Denise: a whole married life, kids and all, in four and a half minutes — it even took over the No. 1 spot from "There Goes My Life" in 2004. Play it for both your parents and let the last verse open the door.

How to tell Dad: three reveals built for him

Quiet men don't want an audience; they want a beat to absorb the news. Give him one of these:

1. The toolbox note. Slip the sonogram print into the top tray of his toolbox, then invent a repair you need help with. He'll find it reaching for the wrench — say nothing, press play on the song, and let him turn around when he's ready.
2. The truck radio. Queue "You're Gonna Be A Grandpa" as track one and ask him to drive you to the hardware store. The reveal happens at a red light, in the cab of his truck — the one room in the world where he's most himself.
3. The fishing trip reveal. Lean the smallest rod you can buy against his tackle box before dawn. When he asks whose it is, tell him it belongs to somebody arriving in the spring — then let the song finish the job on the dock.

The lyrics

Common questions

How do I tell my dad he's going to be a grandpa?

Match the song to the man, not the moment. Pick one from the list that sounds like him — the truck, the workbench, the lake — stage one of the three reveals above, and film it from a distance. Quiet dads need a few seconds for the lyric to land; give him the beat, watch his hands, and don't fill the silence.

Is there a song that actually says "you're going to be a grandpa"?

Almost no famous song says the sentence — the classics sing about grandfathers, not to a brand-new one. That's why we had "You're Gonna Be A Grandpa" written: it delivers the news line by line, and it's the companion to our grandma song, which ends by sending Mom off to phone Dad. Have a custom version written with his name, his grandpa-name-to-be, and your due date sung into it.

What are good grandpa songs from a granddaughter or a grandson?

From a granddaughter — or a daughter telling her dad — reach for "First Man," "I Loved Her First," or "Just Fishin'." From a grandson's side of the story, "Watching You," "He Walked on Water," and "In Color" fit best. A custom song works from either seat, because it's written from yours.

How much does a custom grandpa announcement song cost, and how fast does it arrive?

A custom song from Songbond is $39.90 and arrives in 24 to 48 hours, with unlimited revisions until it's right. You fill out a short questionnaire — his name, what he'll be called (Grandpa, Pop, Papaw), the due date, and the details only your family knows — and an original song comes back ready for the reveal.

Say it so he never forgets it

A famous song circles the news; a custom one lands it — his name, the nickname the family has already voted on, the due date, the truck, the door frame he measured you on. Have a custom "you're going to be a grandpa" song written for $39.90, delivered in 24 to 48 hours, revised until it sounds like your family. Telling Mom first, like the song says? Her version already exists.

From the same series: new grandparents announcement songs, first-time grandparent songs, and grandparents day songs.