Session Five 2026 Lyric Contest Winners

Congratulations to all our Session Five 2026 Lyric Contest winners. Read the winning lyrics for first through fourth place, below.

CLICK HERE to enter the 2026 Session Six Lyric Contest.

1st Place – “Nobody Said Goodbye”

By: Samantha Cugini (Sammi Lee)

“(Verse 1)
Grandpa’s shirt was stained with charcoal
Working smoke into the sky
Grandma swore she made too much food
Like she did each Fourth of July

Neighbors drifted through the backyard
Pulling lawn chairs from the shed
Talking weather talking baseball
Talking ’bout most anything instead

You were home on leave that summer
Air Force blue and twenty-two
Laughing louder than the stories
Like you had something left to prove

(Chorus)
Nobody said goodbye
Nobody said your name
Nobody talked about next week
Or how everything might change

We just passed another burger
Watched the little kids run wild
Held our breath between the fireworks
And pretended for a while

(Verse 2)
There was watermelon on paper plates
Beer bottles sweating in the heat
A radio somewhere in the distance
Calling balls and calling strikes three deep

You were leaning on the fence line
With the boys you’d always known
Making plans you’d never make now
Like the world was still your own

Grandma watched you from the porch swing
Every time you crossed her view
Trying hard to hide the fact
She was counting moments too

(Chorus)
Nobody said goodbye
Nobody said your name
Nobody talked about next week
Or how everything might change

We just passed another burger
Watched the little kids run wild
Held our breath between the fireworks
And pretended for a while

(Bridge)
After dark the sky exploded
Red and white and cobalt blue
Everybody looking upward
Nobody looking at you

‘Cause if they did they’d see the duffel
Waiting by the kitchen door
And the truth nobody wanted
Walking circles on the floor

(Final Chorus)
Nobody said goodbye
But everybody knew
Grandpa at the grill knew it
And Grandma knew it too

The neighbors and the old friends
The kids too young to read the room
All trying to make a holiday
Outlast what was coming soon

Nobody said goodbye
That’s what gets me now
Looking at that photograph
And finally figuring out

It wasn’t just a cookout
It wasn’t just red white and blue

It was a family trying to hold a son

For one more day or two

(Outro)
Grandpa’s shirt was stained with charcoal
Smoke was drifting through the sky

Everybody knew you were leaving

Nobody said goodbye”

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Since 1984, American Songwriter’s Lyric Contest has helped aspiring songwriters get noticed and have fun. Enter the 2026 Lyric Contest today before the deadline:

ENTER THE LYRIC CONTEST

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2nd Place – “Paris In Her Mind”

By: TJ Downey

“She drank sweet tea on the front steps

Listened to the highway whine

Talked about California like a promised land

And Paris in the summertime

She circled ads in the Sunday paper

Flight school down in South Caroline

But babies came and the money went

And life moved on in overtime

Too many debts and doors closed too many nights just getting by

She spent her whole life watching airplanes
disappear into the sky

Let me let you let it fly

To the corners of your mind

Past the hurt and sacrifice

Escape the grips of time

Now the whole world rolls by

Like postcards in the night

She never got to see the world

But she sees Paris in her mind

There was a man who made her small

There were years she can’t get back

Working doubles at the diner

Trying to keep us all intact

She’d point up when the jets crossed over

Say “one day I’m gonna ride”

But dreams can turn to dust so slowly
that
You don’t see them die

Too many chains disguised as duty too many tears she learned to hide

She spent her whole life grounded
with her suitcase packed inside

Let me let you let it fly

To the corners of your mind

Past the hurt and sacrifice

Escape the grips of time

Now the whole world rolls by

Like postcards in the night

She never got to see the world

But she sees Paris in her mind

Now the nurses dim the bedroom lights

And she asks me where we are

I say “somewhere over the ocean now”
Window seat beside the angels

Heaven lights all silver-white

She finally got to leave here

On a late-night memory flight

Yeah she sees Paris…
In her mind

So let me let you let it fly

To the corners of your mind

Where your younger days survive

Safe beyond the hands of time

Now the whole world rolls by

Soft as lullabies tonight

She never got to see the world

But she sees Paris in her mind”

3rd Place – “Under the Tree we Planted”

By: Ben (Dax) Morrisson

[Verse 1]
We arrived in a borrowed truck
with a mattress and a plan
Two hopeful fools with calloused hands
And forty acres of land.
The creek flooded through the summer storms
and the tank ran dry in spring;
You held the torch I fought the pump
But we laughed at everything.

[Pre-Chorus]
We planted a young ironbark tree
Where the sun set last and new night fell.
You said “By the time we can sit under it
We’ll have some stories to tell.”

[Chorus]
We made a home from recycled timber
And we hoped the roof would hold
Turned empty tanks and broken pumps
Into stories that we told.
Every hard earned honest blessing
Every dream that the years granted
Took root and grew beside us
Under the tree that we planted.

[Verse 2]
The tree finally threw some shade
The cabin found its bones.
We learned the language of the sun
And how to read the storms.

You found the goats among the beans
I swore the gate was closed.
You only smiled and took my hand
Then helped me lead them home.

[Pre-Chorus]
The seasons took their toll on us;
They silvered through your hair.
Each scar upon that stubborn earth
Was proof that we were there.

[Chorus]
We made a life from recycled timber
And prayed the roof would hold
Turned empty tanks and broken pumps
To stories we retold.
Every hard earned little blessing
Every dream these years granted
Took root and grew beside us
Under the tree we planted.

[Verse 3]
Then summer came without a storm
And you settled in your chair.
Your boots stayed waiting by the door
Your coat kept hanging there.
I poured two cups of tea for weeks
And watched one slowly cool;
The hardest thing I’d ever fix
Was living without you.

[Pre-Chorus]
The tank still needed checking
The rooster still crowed at dawn.
The sun came up with colours
But for me the colour had gone.

[Chorus]
I kept our home through winter winds
And prayed the roof would hold
Fixed empty tanks and broken pumps
Without your hand to hold.
Every hard earned little blessing
Every dream that I was granted
I kept alive in honour of you
Under the tree we planted.

[Bridge]
Spring returned in purple blooms
The creek ran clear and blue.
I knew the names of every shade
But none of them shone through.
Still I mended the old fence line
and Kept your old coat by the door—
Not because the days were easy
But because this life was yours.

[Final Verse]
Now evening lays its orange glow
Across the western skies.
I rest beneath our ironbark
And I slowly close my eyes.
The wind moves through the leaves above
Like a familiar song;
Then there you are beside me
As though you’d never gone.

[Final Chorus]
We’re home again beneath the leaves
No roof needs fixing now
No empty tanks or broken pumps
No work is left to do.
Every hard-won little blessing
Every year that we we granted
Has led me back into your arms
Under the tree we planted.

[Outro]
You take my hand and I can rest now
Under the tree we planted.”

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Since 1984, American Songwriter’s Lyric Contest has helped aspiring songwriters get noticed and have fun. Enter the 2026 Lyric Contest today before the deadline:

ENTER THE LYRIC CONTEST

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4th Place – “Black Lung”

By: Stape Michaels

Verse
Take the coal from the mountain
Breathe the dust and bury the truth
Hands black as the midnight
Breaking the backs of their youth
Down on Pucketts Creek
Where the daylight fades too soon
Every swing of that hammer
Buys another wound

Chorus
Black lung in a black sky
Can’t outrun the mine
Every breath I’m losing
Buried deep in time
Tell my children don’t come
Where the dark veins run
A man trades his life
Just to feed that black lung

Verse
You can hear the earth groaning
You can feel it in your chest
But the company keeps calling
Says a man don’t need no rest
The wind don’t carry mercy
Just the ashes and regret
Of the men who gave their breath
For every dollar that they get

Chorus
Black lung in a black sky
Can’t outrun the mine
Every breath I’m losing
Buried deep in time
Tell my children don’t come
Where the dark veins run
A man trades his life
Just to feed that black lung

Bridge
I remember his cough
As he fought for his life
Said the dust don’t leave you
No it holds on tight
He’d wipe his hands
But the black stayed in
Said this mine will take more
Than it’s ever gonna give

Chorus
Black lung in a black sky
Can’t outrun the mine
Every breath I’m losing
Buried deep in time
Tell my children don’t come
Where the dark veins run
A man trades his life
Just to feed that black lung

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Since 1984, American Songwriter’s Lyric Contest has helped aspiring songwriters get noticed and have fun. Enter the 2026 Lyric Contest today before the deadline:

ENTER THE LYRIC CONTEST

---

Honorable Mentions:

“700 miles from Oklahoma”
By Rick Buchanan

“Cowboys and Barbies”
By Josie Sal, Kelli Johnson and Maura Streppa

“Daughters Will Marry You”
By Chelsey Stallings, Collins Horton and Brent Baxter

“On The Road To Somewhere Else”
By Michael Roth

“Perfect Ride”
By Brian Stephen Palka

“Slim Pickins”
By Angellina Blackie

“Some Things (Just Aren’t Meant To Be)”
By Brittany OHara

“Still Foldin’ Flags”
By Chris Nelson

“THE HOME WE CARRY”
By Joaquin Jr Perez

“Two Fifty and a Name”
By Sean Dietrich Owens

“You ain’t got to die to rest in peace”
By Nicole Nieves