40th birthday
Forty: the job, the family, the routines. A life that filled in while they were too busy to notice.
A 40th birthday song about the life they have now
Forty is the birthday where a life has filled in: the family, the work, the routines that make them who they are. One of our real samples, Good Morning, Joaquin, was written for a fortieth from three of those routines.
Hear the second a name lands
Oh Joaquin, you make my whole world bright.
You wrote“He makes pancakes shaped like dinosaurs for the kids.”
The song singsYou flip the pancake dinosaurs for the kids.
From a real song made here: “Good Morning, Joaquin”, for Joaquin, from what his wife typed.
The moment you give it
The kids carry the tray up the stairs and spill only a little. The song is full of the ordinary things they do for everyone, and for once they get to sit still and hear it.
Breakfast in bed, birthday morning
You made everyone else breakfast for years.
Today the song is about you.
Start with one memory
Pick a question. The form opens with your first line already started.
A real 40th birthday song
Good Morning, Joaquin was made here for a husband's fortieth, upbeat pop with a female voice.
What you get for $12.99
You hear it first, free. You pay once, only if you keep it.
- Free preview
- The first 60 seconds, ready in about two minutes after you enter your email. No card.
- The song
- The full song, about two minutes long, as an MP3 to download and keep.
- Lyrics
- Every line is on the preview page before you pay. Unlocking adds the lyric sheet, to print or save as a PDF.
- Their link
- A private link that plays the whole song without an account, with your name and a short note. Switch it off any time.
- Photo video
- Free: a vertical 9:16 photo video of your photos with the lyrics on screen, plus 15- and 30-second cuts. Made in your browser.
- The name
- Unusual name? Type how to say it (SEER-sha for Saoirse) and the singer says it that way.
- Re-record
- One free re-record per song: change a line, the style or the voice and record it again.
- Name sung wrong?
- After you pay, a free remake with the name fixed, once per song.
- Languages
- Sung in English, German, French, Spanish or Japanese.
- Teaser
- Before you pay, a 15-second teaser link that tells them a song is on its way.
- For this song
- Posting it? The 15-second cut fits an Instagram story and the 30-second cut a Reel, with the lyrics already on screen.
- Want a nudge next year? Opt in and we email you three weeks and one week before the date.
How our 40th birthday sample was made
His wife wrote that Joaquin makes pancakes shaped like dinosaurs for the kids, runs the Brooklyn half marathon every spring and still texts her good morning from the kitchen. The song built its chorus around that morning text, and the singer pronounced Joaquin correctly.
What to write about a fortieth
- The friend who has known them since they were twenty, and what that friend would say.
- A ritual they never skip, however busy the week gets.
- Something they started after thirty-five and got good at.
- The way they are with their kids, nieces or nephews.
- What friends from their twenties would not believe about them now.
- One thing you want them to know about turning forty.
Style and voice
Our sample uses upbeat pop, which keeps a fortieth celebratory rather than sentimental. Choose acoustic pop for a quieter song, or the voice closest to yours if you want it to sound like it comes from you.
When to play it
- At breakfast, if their ritual happens in the kitchen like Joaquin's.
- At the party, with the kids holding up the cake.
- In the car on the way to the dinner.
If they are dreading forty
Keep the number out of the chorus and build the song around what they love about their life now. A song about the Saturday routine, the kids and the friends who show up reads as a celebration, not a countdown, and the age can sit quietly in one verse.
More song ideas
Questions
Forty, and a song about every good habit.
Type their first name and the one ritual they never skip.