For your grandpa
He tells the same three stories at every dinner. You know them by heart, so you can give them back to him.
A song for grandpa, with the stories he always tells
Grandfathers have stories they have told a hundred times; a song is a way to tell one back to him. Give us his workshop, his truck and his advice, and his name or Grandpa goes into the chorus.
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
Play it at the table, after the plates are cleared and before anyone gets up for pie. He'll recognize his own story in the second verse. Let him tell everyone it's all true.
After dinner, before dessert
Start with one memory
Pick a question. The form opens with your first line already started.
Songs to play for grandpa
Country storytelling and a few standards from his generation.
| Song | Artist | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout the Good Old Days) | The Judds | Asking for his stories |
| In Color | Jamey Johnson | Old photos and what they leave out |
| Old Man | Neil Young | Seeing yourself in him |
| Forever Young | Bob Dylan | A blessing, folk style |
| My Way | Frank Sinatra | A life lived on his terms |
Closest sample: a country song for a father
"My Anchor, Nguyen" is the sound many families pick for a grandfather too.
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.
His stories, your version
- The work he did for most of his life.
- A story he tells at every family dinner.
- His workshop, his truck or his garden.
- Something he taught you with his hands.
- How he and your grandma met.
For example
Those lines give the song a job, a lesson and his stubbornness.
- He drove a milk truck for thirty-one years and knew every dog on the route.
- He taught me to whittle on his porch with a pocketknife I still carry.
- He still walks two miles every morning at eighty-four.
A sound that suits him
Country and indie folk are good fits for storytelling grandfathers. A male voice can sound like a grandson singing to him, a female voice like a granddaughter. If he loves old standards, pick a piano ballad.
Playing it for him
Play it during a visit, at a birthday dinner or on a holiday morning. Keep the volume up and let the whole family hear it together.
Ask him one question first
If you can, call him and ask about a story you only half know: his first car, his service years, the job before the job. Use what he tells you as one of your three lines, and he will hear his own words come back to him in the song.
Grandfathers who say little about feelings often talk for an hour about an old truck. Let that be your way in.
If he likes to sing along, choose a style with a chorus simple enough for him to join in the second time it comes around.