Forty years is a long time to love one person, and the right song should sound like it knows that. Below are real, well-known songs that fit a 40th (ruby) anniversary, plus one more idea: an original song written about your own forty years, for $39.90, delivered in 24 to 48 hours. We start with that one, because it is the example on this page.
Listen: "The House You Built"
What makes a 40th anniversary song actually land
The best 40th anniversary songs are about the years themselves, not just the spark that started them. Four decades is a story of small ordinary days stacked into something huge, and the songs that move people at forty tend to look back and be grateful rather than swept away. "The House You Built" is exactly that kind of song. It is about the life two people made together, the rooms they filled, the things that lasted. That is the register a ruby anniversary asks for: not "I just met you," but "look what we built."
This matters for a simple reason. At forty years, the couple has already heard every love song there is. What they have not heard is a song about their own house, their own decades, the specific life only they lived. A famous song can say how love feels. It cannot name the year, the kitchen, or the forty winters you got through together.
8 of the best songs for a 40th (ruby) anniversary
Here is a quick way to choose: a famous song works best when one already belongs to the two of you, and a written song works best when you want your own forty years in the words. These eight are real, well loved, and right for a marriage measured in decades.
- "Through the Years" — Kenny Rogers. Written by Steve Dorff and Marty Panzer and released in 1981, this is almost the official anthem of a long marriage. It is sung by someone looking back across many years and finding they would do it all again. For the couple who made it through, this is the one.
- "Grow Old With Me" — John Lennon. One of Lennon's final recordings, written for Yoko Ono and released on 1984's Milk and Honey. Plain, tender, and about the whole span of a life together. It fits a ruby anniversary better than almost anything, because that is precisely what it is about.
- "In My Life" — The Beatles. From 1965's Rubber Soul, Lennon's look back at the people and places that shaped him. At forty years married, its line about loving one person more than all of them lands with real weight.
- "Let's Stay Together" — Al Green. The 1971 soul classic written by Green with Willie Mitchell and Al Jackson Jr. A warm, unshakeable promise to stay, in good times and bad. For the couple who simply never let go.
- "Forever and Ever, Amen" — Randy Travis. Written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz and released in 1987, this country standard is a straight-faced vow of lasting love. Good for a milestone that is really about keeping a promise.
- "The Luckiest" — Ben Folds. From 2001's Rockin' the Suburbs, a quiet love song about the long odds of finding the right person at all. For the partner who still feels lucky it worked out this way.
- "When I'm Sixty-Four" — The Beatles. Paul McCartney's playful 1967 tune about growing old together, right down to the grandchildren and the garden. Sweet and a little funny, for a couple who like to laugh about the years.
- "Bless the Broken Road" — Rascal Flatts. Their 2004 hit, written by Marcus Hummon, Bobby Boyd, and Jeff Hanna, about how every wrong turn led to the right person. For the couple whose road to forty years was not a straight line.
The lyrics
The lyrics
The House You Built
Park on the lawn, kids, like always
Door's unlocked
It's been unlocked fifty years
The kitchen table's still got the wobble
Where every big decision got hashed out loud
College and car loans, the year the shop closed —
You two would talk it through till the coffee pot ran out
And the doorframe's still penciled with our heights
Dates in your handwriting, Mom — nobody paints that over, not tonight
We came back with kids of our own
To the only address that ever felt like home
This is the house you built, you two
Fifty years of nails and vows holding true
Not the boards, not the brick — the thing you grew inside
The supper bell, the porch light, the door that never locked us out
We're all just rooms in the house you built
And it's standing, it's standing, it's standing proud tonight
Dad sat the front steps every weekend curfew
Acting casual at midnight with his radio low
Mom, your Sunday gravy smell could pull us
Off the school bus, up the street, three houses down the road
You danced in the den when you thought we were sleeping
We watched from the stairs — that's where we learned what keeping means
Fifty years since the courthouse and the borrowed car
Look around this crowded room at what you are
This is the house you built, you two
Fifty years of nails and vows holding true
Not the boards, not the brick — the thing you grew inside
The supper bell, the porch light, the door that never locked us out
We're all just rooms in the house you built
And it's standing, it's standing, it's standing proud tonight
Now the grandkids run the hallway
New heights going up on the frame
Different pencil, same old doorway
Fifty years, and it measures love the same
This is the house you built, you two
Every one of us under this roof is proof of you
Not the boards, not the brick — the stubborn, daily yes
The supper bell, the porch light, the gravy on the stove
We're all just rooms in the house you built
So raise 'em up — to fifty years of love
Leave the porch light on
Like always
We'll be back
Common questions
What is a good song for a 40th wedding anniversary?
For forty years married, "Through the Years" by Kenny Rogers and "Grow Old With Me" by John Lennon are two of the most fitting choices. Both are about a love measured in decades rather than moments. If you want the lyrics to name your own forty years, a custom song is the most personal route.
Why is the 40th called the ruby anniversary?
The 40th wedding anniversary is traditionally tied to the ruby, a deep red gemstone. The ruby stands for enduring passion and the warmth of a long marriage, which is why ruby-red details, jewelry, and gifts show up so often at forty years. It is where the "ruby anniversary" name comes from.
Should we pick a famous song or have one written for our 40th?
Pick a famous song if a particular track already belongs to the two of you from over the years. Have one written if you want your real story in the words. A custom song from Songbond is $39.90 and arrives in 24 to 48 hours, with unlimited revisions, so a couple or their kids can do both and let the written one be the surprise.
Give them a song about their own forty years
A famous song says what love feels like in general. A song about your own marriage says what it looked like in one house, over four decades. If you want the second kind, have a custom anniversary song written for $39.90, delivered in 24 to 48 hours and revised until it is right. Tell us about the year they married, the house, the forty winters. We will write the rest.
From the same series: 50th (golden) anniversary songs and 25th anniversary song ideas. See also our guide to custom songs as a romantic anniversary gift.
