What makes a great gift song
The most important tip first: concrete memories beat adjectives. "She's funny, kind and always there for me" fits millions of people. "She drove four hours in a snowstorm to bring me soup when I had the flu" fits exactly one. Details like that are what make a song personal.
- Two or three scenes, not a life story: a song has room for three to five pictures. Pick the ones that will make them laugh or tear up.
- In-jokes and nicknames: one word only the two of you understand often lands harder in a chorus than any pretty line.
- Places and objects: the diner booth, the beat-up pickup truck, Grandma's kitchen table. Things you can see stick in the mind.
- One message for the chorus: what should they feel at the end? Thank you, I'm proud of you, stay just as you are? Tell us in one sentence.
- Unusual names: use the "how to say the name" field and spell it the way it sounds, for example "Shi-VAWN" for Siobhan.