July/August 2020 Lyric Contest Winners

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)

• TO ENTER THE CURRENT LYRIC CONTEST, CLICK HERE!

• LEARN MORE ABOUT THE 35th ANNIVERSARY SONG CONTEST HERE!

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