Can the song mention Grandma too?

Yes. Write a line about the two of them and the verse will include her.

What if he isn’t sentimental?

Give the song his jokes and his stubborn habits. It will tease him first and get to the warm part at the end.

Can we play it at a restaurant?

Yes, from any phone after you unlock it; the downloaded MP3 plays even if the signal is bad.

Can the song use his first name instead of Grandpa?

Yes. Type whichever name you want sung, whether that is Grandpa, Pop-Pop or the name his friends use.

For Grandpa

He tells the fishing story every birthday and everyone groans. This year, he gets to hear it sung.

A birthday song for your grandpa, full of the stories he tells

Grandpas repeat their best stories because they are good stories. Put one of them in a song, add his workshop or his garden, and he gets a birthday present he will play for every visitor.

Hear the second a name lands

Nguyen, you are the anchor of my life.

You wrote“Taught me to fish on Galveston pier.”

The song singsWe fished on Galveston pier in the breeze.

From a real song made here: “My Anchor, Nguyen”, for Nguyen, from what his daughter typed.

The moment you give it

You swap his workshop radio for your phone. The song tells the fishing story with all his favorite details, and he insists the fish was bigger than the song says.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BOSS OF THE WORKSHOP · HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BOSS OF THE WORKSHOP ·

Birthday afternoon, out in the workshop · His garage, sawdust, the radio swapped for a phone

Start with one memory

Pick a question. The form opens with your first line already started.

A real song for a dad

Written for Father’s Day; a grandpa’s song uses the same kind of plain, specific lines.

My Anchor, Nguyen

for Nguyen · dad · Father's Day · Country

Dad drove a taxi in Houston for twenty years and never missed one of my soccer games. He taught me to fish on Galveston pier and to fix a flat tire in the rain. He still calls me kiddo.

1:55

Good Morning, Joaquin

for Joaquin · husband · Birthday · Upbeat pop

Joaquin turns 40 on Friday. He makes pancakes shaped like dinosaurs for the kids, runs the Brooklyn half marathon every spring, and still texts me good morning from the kitchen when I am upstairs.

1:55

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: Family in another country? Pick the language they speak at home in the form, and the whole song, chorus and name included, is sung in it.
: For a party or school slideshow: the photo video sets your photos to the song, or download the MP3 and use it under your own.

Grandpa details

The story he tells at every holiday, in one sentence.
His workshop, garden, boat or fishing spot.
The job he did for most of his life.
The thing he taught a grandchild to do.
His chair, his hat, his truck: the object that is him.
How he met Grandma, if the family knows.

A song he can hear clearly

Choose country or a piano ballad with a male voice if his hearing is not what it was; slower styles keep the words easy to follow. Play it at a normal volume close to him rather than across a noisy room.

From all the grandkids

Let the youngest grandchild give one line, even if it is simply what they love doing with him. A detail from a six-year-old next to one from a thirty-year-old is what makes the song feel like a family gift.

For example

A granddaughter might write: he taught all six of us to fish off the same dock; he whistles the same tune every time he fixes something; at 75 he still beats everyone at checkers. Three lines from three corners of his life, and the chorus wraps them up with his name.