Lady GaGa paid a touching tribute to her late grandfather during her Thanksgiving Day special after telling fans this would be her second holiday season without him.
The pop superstar, whose A Very Gaga Thanksgiving TV special was an odd but inspired addition to the U.S. holiday schedule when it aired on Thursday night (24Nov11), dedicated her hit The Edge of Glory to her deceased grandad, explaining she wrote the song about him as he was dying.
She said, "It's the second Thanksgiving I'm spending without my grandpa and I wrote this song about him," and then added, "So, grandma, if you're watching at home, this one's for you."
During the song, she broke off to tell fans, "One of my favourite memories with my grandpa and my grandma around Thanksgiving... is that they make these cookies, called pizelles, and if you're Italian, you'll know what those are - they're, like, really flat waffles; they're really thin and crisp. My grandpa would always make the pizelles and he'd always work the machine."
As with You & I and Born This Way, Gaga performed the tune in a gothic dinner party setting created in the banquet hall of her old school, New York's Convent of the Sacred Heart.
The quirky TV special also featured Gaga joining children from the school for an arts and craft session, a cookery class with her favourite chef Art Smith and a duet performance of The Lady is a Tramp with Tony Bennett.
There was an emotional moment during the end of the special as Gaga sat for an interview with newswoman Katie Couric as she talked about the New York restaurant she's opening with her father.
The singer's eyes welled up with tears as she told Couric, "It was always his dream to open a restaurant, so my dad and I opened up the restaurant together and it's called Joanne's."
She apologised for losing her composure and when Couric asked her why she was suddenly overcome with emotion, the singer said, "My dad's sitting over there... Watching my dad put up the awning in front of 68th Street, two blocks from where I grew up... that's wealth, that's the dream."