On Hiatus

Thank you so much for stopping by my custom songs blog. I hope you enjoy the stories and songs posted here and I look forward to working with many of you in the near future!

I apologize that I am currently on hiatus from custom song work while serving as caregiver for a family member.

Hopefully I will be available to take commissions again before the end of the year and really appreciate your interest and patience, thank you!

Best Wishes,
Jennifer Haase

"For Everything You Do" (Custom Anniversary Song for Lisa & Ed)

   

"Ed took me on a trip to Vegas to see his mom who was living there at the time. We were meeting his mom and sister at the Venetian for dinner and he surprised me with a gondola ride. Shortly after the ride started, I heard someone say "Oh my God, he is proposing!" I quickly turned around to look for who was proposing to who on another gondola perhaps and saw Ed holding out the ring! I was completely surprised!" 

-- Lisa W. 

It's incredibly flattering when a new custom song client comes to me because they loved a song I wrote for someone they know. Lisa, a co-worker of a previous song commission client of mine, wanted to do something extra special for her husband for their 5th wedding anniversary in October 2013. 

I say this over and over and it never changes -- every custom love song I write for a couple always renews my faith in, well...in love! Lisa's story about the man she adores definitely made my lil' romantic heart go pitter-pat all over again. 

She said she wanted her surprise song for Ed to express how much she appreciates everything he does to make their marriage and life together with their two young daughters so wonderful. As always, there were details in her descriptions of Ed and their family that rose to the top and made their way into the final song. 

• Ed is the kind of guy who pays attention when his wife mentions something she loves or longs to have. She once came home to the big surprise of a beautiful Louis Vuitton handbag sitting on the dining room table because Ed knew his wife is a huge fan of Audrey Hepburn's class and style.

• One of the things Lisa admires and appreciates about her husband the most is how incredible he is with their daughters, Sophie & Ava. He instantly turned into a dad who engages in all their sweet little girl play and interests with complete joy.

• Lisa tackled her wedding planning on her own, but didn't realize until her wedding was about to begin that she had forgotten one important detail. She hadn't arranged for any church music! It was completely quiet as she walked down the aisle, other than the clicking sounds of her heels on the floor. She and Ed shared a memorable grin as she click-clacked her way to his side.

• They did, however, have a special song for their first dance at the wedding reception. That song was "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds. I knew I wanted to connect that song with this custom anniversary song by making part of this song's theme about how even luckier Lisa feels now to be married to the man of her dreams.

• Ed's love for photography and sweets ended up in his special song, too. Saying that he is the lens to their beautiful life seemed like a fitting tribute to his role as family photographer. Ed's unending passion for an iconic frozen custard stand in St. Louis, called "Ted Drewes" just had to get a wink-wink mention for a giggle between them for years to come. 

Thanks for taking a listen to Lisa and Ed's custom anniversary song, with lyrics below! It was another heartwarming, sentimental journey for me to write this love song about their incredibly loving love story. 

For Everything You Do

(A Custom Anniversary Song for Lisa & Ed)

Words & Music by Jennifer Haase ©2013

Remember how quiet the church was that day?

You grinned as I clicked down the aisle

Yeah, I forgot music and someone to play

So here is our wedding song now

I knew that I was the luckiest then

But nothing compares to today

True luck is loving such a giving man

Who’s still taking my breath away

CHORUS:

I’m still in that gondola

Saying yes to you

Luckier each passing day

For everything you do

For everything you do

Your sweet surprises always knock me over

I’m still stunned by Louis Vuitton

And nothing can melt me like you as the doter

Of daughters that you have become

CHORUS

You hold the lens to this beautiful life

That I am so blessed to look through

As thanks I decided on this little song

Instead of some stock in Ted Drewes ;)

CHORUS

SPECIAL THANKS TO....

Lisa and Ed W., for making me swoon and laugh and weep (yes, these songs always make me weep with happiness, too!)....and for making me enthusiastically add a stop at Ted Drewes in St. Louis to my bucket list. ;) 

Producer & Musician Marc Moss at Target Recording Studio in Red Hook NY, for your wonderful playing talent and recording prowess and guidance on this song! 

Thank you to Jennifer A. for the referral, too! So appreciated! 

If you'd like more information and a price quote for commissioning a special custom song for a wedding, anniversary or other special events & marketing promotions, please email Jennifer Haase at customsongsbyjenniferhaase@gmail.com. 

"When You Know, You Know" - Custom Song for Jennifer & Steve

I'll never forget playing this custom song to Jennifer for the first time, which she was giving as a gift to her husband Steve 

for their 17th wedding anniversary. 

She was on the phone in her car. I was on the phone in my kitchen, with 6-string acoustic guitar in my lap and the handset on the table in front of me. I played the song. I picked the phone back up. I heard Jennifer crying. It makes me cry now remembering that moment again -- that moment I live for when I realize that, as a songwriter, I have found a way to express something that someone else longs to say. 

In this case, that special something was "Thank you." 

"Thank you for changing my life." 

Jennifer was a single mother of a 3-year-old son when she met Steve on a bus trip to a St. Louis Cardinals game that neither one of them wanted to attend. At the game, Jennifer was stuck sitting next to a "really weird guy" and Steve offered to change seats with him. They talked through the entire game and he's been her hero ever since. 

Her hero she first kissed in the parking lot of a bar called Miss Kitty's on Memorial Day weekend. 

By that December, they were hitched and never looked back. 

"If we had a dime for everyone who either thought we were crazy or that we were pregnant, we’d be very wealthy people, but when you know, you know!"

"He makes me laugh. I mean really, almost every day he makes me laugh. Sometimes just a snicker, but often times a huge belly laugh.  It makes a good day great and a really crappy day bearable. When I tell him he’s funny his comment to me is 'I’m hysterical, everybody says so.' "

Now a family of four with the addition of their daughter, family has always been ultra-important to both Steve and Jennifer. 

And I knew - or I was hoping I knew - that this line for Jennifer's song to Steve would be the one that might tug at her heart the most...

...You made two plus one equal four...

Jennifer knew she needed a man who'd be a great father. 

When she found that patient, creative, caring family man (who happens to be a genius at making his own gift bows, thank you very much)

 there was no reason to wait to make him hers forever and ever, amen.

When You Know, You Know

(Custom Anniversary Song for Jennifer & Steve)

Words and Music by Jennifer Haase c 2011

You’re hysterical, everybody says so

Incomparable, the Einstein of gift bows

From that kiss at Miss Kitty’s to here

I’ve been weak at the knees for you, Dear

Hotel Pontchartrain, chasing down vampires

We were so insane in every one's wide eyes

Love from zero to 90 we rode

Because Babe, when you know, you know

CHORUS:

Those comic book heroes got nothin’ on you

Thank you for changing the world and mine, too. 

I knew when we met 

that you’d be the star of my show

You took my hand, we placed our bets

When you know, you know

You’re our King of Hearts, devoted to family

You’re my sweet Wild Card, surprises a’plenty

You’re the Christmas Eve kid I adore

You made two plus one equal four

CHORUS

Mr. & Mrs. Allen, through love and the ledges

I’ll sing you to sleep and you’ll keep me in stitches

Thank you for knowing it, too. 

That I’d be the one who gets you

CHORUS

"Thank you for being my partner!  Partner in parenting, partner in love, partner with our own parents, partner our mundane daily lives.  Thank you for loving me!"    

It's always an incredible gift to be part of sharing a love story like this one. These two wonderful people have proven to me and to everyone who knows and loves them that, well....when you know, you know. 

SPECIAL THANKS...

To Jennifer and Steve, for yet again making me a believer in love and finding that love with your very best friend. 

This song still makes me smile and cry and hope and dream. 

Happy Anniversary with love to you. 

XOXO