Congratulations to all our July/August 2020 Lyric Contest winners! CLICK HERE to enter the September/October contest, deadline July 15 @ 11:59 PM CST.
1st Place
“Love Was Just a Word” by Shawn Byrne (Nashville, TN)
A guitar’s just wood and wire ’til it’s played
A prayer’s just print on paper ’til it’s prayed
I was just a dreamer until your love came shining through
Love was just a word ’till I found you
A songbird’s just a bird until it sings
A church bell’s just cold steel until it rings
My heart was just flesh and blood until your love came shining through
Love was just a word till I found you
You’re the light that lights my way
You’re the perfect in a perfect day it’s true
When hard times paint my poor heart blue
You’re the saving grace that pulls me through
It’s all the little things you do
You made my heart shine like new
A house was not a home ’till you got here
A room was just a place to place a chair
Now your little touch is showing me
Something I never knew
Love was just a word ’till I found you
You’re the light that lights my way
You’re the perfect in a perfect day it’s true
When hard times paint my poor heart blue
You’re the saving grace that pulls me through
It’s all the little things you do
You made my heart shine like new
A fire won’t burn long without some coal
My body’s a bag of bones without my soul
I spent so many years living like a fool
Love was just a word ’till I found you
Love was just a word ’till I found you
2nd Place
“The Best of You” by Brett Boles (Sandy Hoot, CT)
Sittin’ on the back porch watchin’ as the sun goes down
Just a daughter and her daddy wishin’ you were still around
She turns to me and says “Don’t you miss her on a night like this?”
I don’t let her see me cry as I give her little head a kiss
And as we’re swingin’ in the shade
I look at her, this perfect child we made
She’s the best of you, the best of me
She’s everything we hoped she’d be and more
She’s every song we’d ever sing
Our baby girl is everything we waited for
She’s a dream come true
She brings out the best there is in me
Cause she’s the best of you
Now she’s almost done with high school and going off to senior prom
Leanin’ on her daddy, but wishing that she had a mom
I turn to her and say “Don’t you miss her on a night like this?”
She doesn’t hide her tears as she gives her daddy’s cheek a kiss
And as she climbs into his car
I can’t help but thank my lucky star
That she’s the best of you, the best of me
She’s everything we hoped she’d be and more
She’s every song we’d ever sing
Our baby girl is everything we waited for
She’s a dream come true
She brings out the best there is in me
Cause she’s the best of you
Now as I walk her down the aisle
I don’t try to hide the smile through my tears
Cause I know that you’ve been here all these years
And she’s the best of you, the best of me
She’s everything we hoped she’d be and more
She’s every song we’d ever sing
Our baby girl is everything we waited for
She’s a dream come true
She brings out the best there is in me
Cause she’s the best of you
She’s a dream come true
She brings out the best there is in me
Cause she’s the best of you
The best of you
The best of you
3rd Place
“Non-Essential” by Jeffrey Ellis (Fayetteville, NC)
VERSE 1
You don’t think about the lineman
Until the lights go out
You take for granted all the things you have
Until you have to go without
You never care about the people
Working hard behind the scenes
Until the world up and falls apart
You don’t know how much they mean
But
CHORUS
They’re holding back the darkness
They’re working through the night
Providing all the services
That keep the world spinning right
When you lose your creature comforts
You finally start to figure it out
The ones you thought non-essential
Are the ones you can’t live without
VERSE 2
So give thanks to the farmers
For giving us food to eat
Say thanks to the public workers
Picking trash up off the street
To the nurse who takes the temperatures
At her own well-being’s cost
To the singer on the radio
You turn to when you’re lost
Because
CHORUS
They’re holding back the darkness
They’re working through the night
Providing all the services
That keep the world spinning right
When you lose your creature comforts
You start to figure it out
The ones you thought non-essential
Are the ones you can’t live without
VERSE 3
For the truck drivers and the waitresses
The teachers, the preachers, and the law
For the store clerks stocking those retail shelves
For the dispatchers answering the calls
For all those barely getting by
Doing the hard work that you’re too good to do
You’d best be sure you’re taking care of
The ones taking care of you
Because
CHORUS
They’re holding back the darkness
They’re working through the night
Providing all the services
That keep the world spinning right
When you lose your creature comforts
You finally start to figure it out
The ones you thought non-essential
Are the ones you can’t live without
Yeah, the ones you thought non-essential
Are the ones you can’t live without
4th Place
“Stone” by Brad Miles (Plainview, TX)
VERSE 1
She says she’s learned it’s best to lay there
And try not to look him in the eye
Because it only makes him angry
If he sees you start to cry
VERSE 2
She says you have to just be quiet
She says pretend you’re not afraid
And if you just do what he tells you
Then pretty soon he’ll go away
CHORUS
If I’m a stone
Then the world will break against me
If I’m a stone
Then you can’t bruise me anymore
So I’ll gather all the strength I own
And teach this flesh and bone
To be a stone
VERSE 3
She says you have to give up dreaming
And steel yourself against the pain
You wear long sleeves to hide your bruises
You wear a smirk to hide your shame
CHORUS 2
If I’m a stone
Then the chaos that surrounds me
Won’t sink in
And it won’t move me anymore
So I set my jaw and lift my chin
I can learn to face the fear within alone
If I’m a stone
VERSE 4
She says sometimes when you’re the weakest
You pretend you’ve lived another life
A family that laughs like in the movies
Or just someone to hold you when you cry
Honorable Mention
“Bounce Around People”
by David Holgado (Brooklyn, NY)
“Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda”
by Hunter Jordan (Jackson, TN)
“Miles & Memories”
by Claudia McGregor (Fayetteville, AR)
“That Ain’t Dallas”
by William Carter (Hermitage, TN)
“Best Is Yet To Come”
by Joe Bartosch (Arlington Heights, IL)
“Heaven On Earth”
by Austin Owens (Hays, NC)
“Old Friends”
Jake Holmes (Beacon, NY)
“Somebody’s Daughter”
by Samuel Morrison (Fullerton, CA)
“On the Plains”
by Stephen Harmonay (Peekskill, NY)
“Come With Me”
by Richelle Putnam (Meridian, MS)