November/December 2022 Lyric Contest Winners

Congratulations to all our November/December 2022 Lyric Contest winners. Read the winning lyrics for first through fourth place, below.

CLICK HERE to enter the November/December contest.

1st Place:

“Long Line of Cars”

By Mason Caviness and Emily Rose

Lyrics:

There’s a long line of cars

Rolling down main street

In barely a town down in New Mexico

Hazard lights flashing

Making a scene

A sober parade through the dust and the weeds

The radios are down

The reverence is cutting

Through the silence in ways that you can’t see

No one’s a stranger

All friends and family

Taking a drive down their own memories

We’re born and we grow and we live and we die

But what is success when you measure a life?

It ain’t status or money at the end of the road

It’s the long line of cars bringing you home

Then it’s back to the house

For a meal and some stories

A toast to the glories with beer and sweet tea

We’re all crying and laughing

Over brisket and beans

Food for the soul if you know what I mean

We’re born and we grow and we live and we die

But what is success when you measure a life?

It ain’t status or money at the end of the road

It’s the long line of cars bringing you home

There’s a long line of cars

Waving goodbye

All headed back to the places they’re from

They carry you with them

The old and the young

You live on in them, yeah the story’s not done

We’re born and we grow and we live and we die

But what is success when you measure a life?

It ain’t status or money at the end of the road

It’s the long line of cars bringing you home

It’s the long line of cars bringing you home

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

2nd Place:

“Cut from the Same Cloth”

By Greg Tardie

Lyrics:

Verse 1

As we filed into the church pews

organ music filled the air

There were flowers on the casket

as we bowed our heads in prayer

When the preacher gave his sermon

old memories filled my head

But I struggled to find comfort in

the verses that he read

Verse 2

Tears fell with every gunshot

of the honor guard’s salute

A folded flag passed to me

and his story told with truth

In the marble’s carved engraving

was the essence of his life

Now he rests in peace forever

with his one love by his side

Chorus

From the denim to the flannel

I’m a mirror of that man

Scuffed leather on our work boots

Tattered gloves hide weathered hands

You’ll find grease stains on our canvas coat

wool sweaters fed the moths

In the fabric of our family

We’re both cut from the same cloth

Bridge

Verse 3

Now I think of that man often

and his legacy in life

The traits that he passed to me

countless stories and advice

So I bow my head in sorrow

as I kneel before this cross

and say a prayer for that fine man

‘cause I was cut from the same cloth

Chorus

3rd Place: 

“The Painter”

By Brandon Walker

Lyrics:

Everyone was born an empty canvas

We stretch with every pass around the sun

And words and ideas, that children hear

Are the paints that color in who we become

So take care with what you say

‘Cause it cannot be erased

Only covered up with more layers of paint

And take care with what you do

Children are always watching you

And the world will be in their hands one day

Now I’ve been known to say some things that I regret

I guess it’s just human nature,

But when my baby girl was born

God put a brush into my hand

Saying son, now you are the painter

So take care with what you say

‘Cause it cannot be erased

Only covered up with more layers of paint

And take care with what you do

Children are always watching you,

And the world will be in their hands one day

My love one day I will grow old

My colors will grow fainter

And I’ll pass the brush to you

As I’m supposed to do

And that’s the day you’ll become the painter

So take care with what you say

‘Cause it cannot be erased

Only covered up with more layers of paint

And be sure to brush with love

‘Cause there’s surely not enough

But maybe there will be one day

Maybe there will be one day

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

4th Place:

“Made to be Played”

By  Emily Carter and John Carter

Lyrics:

I’m the guitar in a case

Aching at the string

Wasting in the dark

Cause I was born to sing

I’m the bass in the woodshed

Longing for the pocket

Gone dormant with the dream

They the door and locked it

Buy me, find me, trade me

Play my melody

I’m no good cast in the dark

I’m the music, set me free

I’m the fiddle gone quiet

Sleeping by my bow

When someone decided

Weren’t no more notes to sow

I’m the keyboard in storage

My lid closed down tight

Likely they forgot the how

Bars sound on Friday night

Buy me, find me, trade me

Play my melody

I’m no good sitting in the dark

I’m the music, set me free

I’m the drum without rhythm

No groove to be found

My sticks beat out silence

And don’t leave a sound

I’m the harp in a junk drawer

No draw, no blow, no reed

My blues hushed to nothing

My soul hungry for feed

Buy me, find me, trade me

Play my melody

I’m no good rusting in the dark

I’m the music, set me free

Honorable Mention: 

“Bottom”

By Timothy Goss

“Nowhere Town”

By Jonathan Smith

“An Inconvenient Truth”

By Debbi Hayward

“Four Across the Seat”

By Craig Greshaw & Corey William Schneider

“So Rudely Interrupted”

 By Bruce Madole

“I Fish”

By Brenda Cay, Kristin Smith & Skot Bradley

“I Carry A Picture”

By Mark Cariker

“Fire In Glass Jars”

By Aimee Hare

“All the Corn in Kentucky”

By Ashley Atwell

“Drinkin’ Bout You”

By Adam Tomkowski

“American Rust”

By David Taub

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

(Photo credit: Molly Lins)