Custom songs by occasion
A custom Christmas song, about one specific person
Not a cover of a carol. An original song about your dad, your sister, your nan, played on the day. From $21.99.
By about the second week of December most people are buying to fill a gap rather than to say anything. Another candle set. A jumper in a size that is a guess. Something from the list of things that are technically presents.
A song written about the person is a different job entirely. It uses their name, the way they answer the phone, the year they drove through snow to get everyone home. It costs less than most of what ends up under the tree and it is the only thing in the room that could not have been bought for anybody else.
What to put in a Christmas brief
December is full of shared history, and shared history is exactly what a lyric runs on. Raid it.
The family Christmas habit
The tin of Quality Street with only the coffee ones left by Boxing Day. The argument about when the tree goes up. The uncle asleep by four.
What this year has been like
A first Christmas without someone, a first with a new baby, a year everyone spent apart. Naming it is what stops the song sounding like a jingle.
The one they always do something for
The person who cooks for eleven and eats standing up. The one who drives everybody. Songs written to thank them tend to be the ones that stop the room.
Who is playing it and when
Christmas morning in pyjamas, after dinner with the whole table, or over video call to someone abroad. Tell us and we pitch the tone to suit it.
Which genre tends to work
Soul
Warm, big, faintly festive without being a novelty. The default for a full table.
Gospel
Choir energy for a family that goes to a service and then sings all afternoon.
Country
Storytelling built for a long life with a lot of Christmases in it.
Jazz
Brushed drums and an old-fashioned swing. Sounds like the records the grandparents put on.
Playing it on the day
The trick is picking a gap. Straight after the food, before the television goes on and while everyone is still at the table, is the moment when a room will actually listen to three minutes of something.
Hand over a card with the lyric sheet in it first so they can read along, then play it out loud. People who would find a speech unbearable will sit through a song, which is why this works on families who do not say much to each other.
For the ones who are not in the room
Christmas is also the season of relatives on a laptop screen. A song sent to a sister in Sydney or a son on shift lands better than a video call where nobody knows who is speaking, because they can play it alone, twice, at whatever hour suits them.
It is a good answer for grief too. Families who have lost someone often order a song that mentions them by name, so the first Christmas without them has a moment set aside for it rather than everyone stepping around the subject.
When to order for Christmas
Mid-December is the sensible window. Order by then and you can listen once, check every name is right, and print the lyric sheet to put in a card so there is something to physically hand over.
Delivery does not care about the calendar, though. Standard is 16 hours, Priority is 4, Express is 1, and the form takes about ten minutes. A song briefed on Christmas Eve while everyone else is asleep will be waiting before the presents are opened.
Questions
Is this a Christmas carol or an original song?
Entirely original. We write new lyrics and record a new arrangement about the person you are giving it to. It is not a rewrite of an existing carol or a karaoke backing track.
Can I give it to more than one person?
A song written for a whole household works well, and plenty of people brief one for the family as a group. If two people need very different songs, order two, because a lyric split down the middle serves neither.
How do I actually wrap it?
Print the lyric sheet that comes with the song, fold it into a card, and play the audio once they have read the first verse. The download is permanent, so there is nothing to renew or re-send later.
What is the latest I can order?
Express delivery is one hour, so Christmas Eve is still workable. Priority is 4 hours and Standard is 16 if you have planned ahead.
Ready when you are
About ten minutes of questions. A finished song in as little as an hour, from $21.99, yours to keep forever.
Start their song