March/April 2024 Lyric Contest Winners

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Congratulations to all our March/April 2024 Lyric Contest winners. Read the winning lyrics for first through fourth place, below.

CLICK HERE to enter the May/June Lyric contest.

1st Place – “Love Washes Off

By: Michael R.J. Roth

He wears the nicotine cologne of an old French poem

Keeps the dead leaves of romance in boxes

He doesn’t know if he’s seeing the light

Or if his eyes are adjusting to darkness

He remembers his fingers tracing her skin

Seeking something deeper than flesh

Thinking, what kind of braille is this

And wondering, what kind of blindness

There’s a scar on his heart he can’t peel off

That she left there when she flew away

And Don Quixote’s last words were lost

In the breath of a windmill in Spain

Chorus:

Between the broken oaks and the boats

On the beach of a storm-ravaged bay

He stands on the shore in an old navy coat

While his love washes off in the waves

The dried apricot of Van Gogh’s ear

Is covered by dust on the floorboards

The remnants of love make a strange souvenir

And stranger when you start to hoard them

He wakes on a destitute morning

To the taunt of a mockingbird’s call

He says, I miss you most of all, darling

When you don’t think of me at all

Chorus:

Between the broken oaks and the boats

On the beach of a storm-ravaged bay

He stands on the shore in an old navy coat

While his love washes off in the waves


Since 1984, American Songwriter’s Lyric Contest has helped aspiring songwriters get noticed and have fun. Enter the 2024 Lyric Contest today before the deadline:


2nd Place – “SUNSETS OVER MEMPHIS

By: Mike Ellis

TYRE NICHOLS

WAS TAKING PHOTOS IN THE PARK

ADMIRING THE SUNSET

UNTIL IT GOT DARK

HE WAS EXCITED FOR HIS SON

AND HIS MOTHER TO LOOK

AT THE GLORIOUS SUNSET

IN THE PICTURES HE TOOK

THE SCORPIONS OF MEMPHIS

WERE HUNTING FOR SOMEONE TO STING

A DEATH SQUAD IN THE LAND

OF GRACE AND DEAD KINGS

THEY PULLED TYRE OVER

AND AIMED THEIR GUNS AT HIS FACE

THEY DIDN’T TELL HIM ANY CHARGES

THEY KNEW THEY DIDN’T HAVE A CASE

ALL HE WANTED

WAS TO GO HOME

ALL HE WANTED

WAS TO GO HOME

THE COPS SAID THEY BEAT HIM

BECAUSE HE TRIED TO RUN

BUT WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO

WHEN IT’S FIVE AGAINST ONE

WHEN A DEPUTIZED LYNCH MOB

HAS THE WEAPONS ON THEIR SIDE

WHEN THEY’VE GOT YOU SURROUNDED

AND THERE’S NOWHERE TO HIDE

THEY STOMPED THE LIFE OUT OF HIS BODY

WHILE HE LAY THERE DEFENSELESS

FOR THE CRIMES OF BEING BLACK

AND LOVING SUNSETS OVER MEMPHIS

THEY STOMPED THE LIFE OUT OF HIS BODY

WHILE HE LAY THERE DEFENSELESS

FOR THE CRIMES OF BEING BLACK

AND LOVING SUNSETS OVER MEMPHIS

DID THEY PULL TYRE OVER

CAUSE HE LOOKED OUT OF PLACE?

DID THEY THINK IT WOULDN’T MATTER

ON ACCOUNT OF HIS RACE?

DO YOU THINK THAT A WHITE MAN

WOULD HAVE MET THE SAME FATE?

THE LAW AIN’T COLORBLIND

IN THESE UNITED STATES

ALL THE COPS SAW WAS A TARGET

THEY NEVER SAW TYRE

THE FATHER, THE SON,

THE SKATER, THE HUMAN BEING

HOW MUCH MORE INNOCENT

DOES A BLACK MAN HAVE TO BE

TO SURVIVE A TRAFFIC STOP

IN THE HOME OF THE FREE?

ALL HE WANTED WAS TO GO HOME

ALL HE WANTED WAS TO GO HOME

AND THERE WON’T BE ANY JUSTICE

NO MATTER HOW LONG THE SENTENCE

THEY CAN’T UN-KILL THE MAN

WHO LOVED SUNSETS OVER MEMPHIS

NO THERE WON’T BE ANY JUSTICE

NO MATTER HOW LONG THE SENTENCE

THEY CAN’T UN-KILL THE MAN

WHO LOVED SUNSETS OVER MEMPHIS”

3rd Place – “Shotgun

By: Jason Hardy

Daddy, oh Daddy, I’m swallowed in rage.

There’s blood in my eyes; I can’t see straight.

Daddy, I’m scared I’ll start swinging my fists.

Tell me how you hold back when you’re feeling like this.

Oh my son, when rage comes upon me

And offers to give me a ride,

Well, I let my rage ride shotgun,

But I’m sure as hell gonna drive.

Daddy, oh daddy, I’m a lake of desire

For riches, for pleasure—it’s drowning my mind.

Too much ain’t enough; I’m a bottomless well.

How do I save this old world from myself?

Oh my son, when desire comes upon me

And offers to give me a ride,

Well, I let desire ride shotgun,

But I’m sure as hell gonna drive.

Daddy, oh Daddy, my fear is like ice.

It’s frozen my mind, put my heart in a vice.

The path of justice is dangerous and steep.

I’m too scared to move; fear has frozen my feet.

Oh my son, when fear comes upon me

And offers to give me a ride,

Well, I let my fear ride shotgun,

But I’m sure as hell gonna drive.


Since 1984, American Songwriter’s Lyric Contest has helped aspiring songwriters get noticed and have fun. Enter the 2024 Lyric Contest today before the deadline:


4th Place – “Back of His Hand

By: Gabby Patrice Boyle and Marielle Kraft

VERSE 1:

You should see him when he smiles

The way he lights up every room

Dancing to 500 miles

Telling me he’d walk it too

Ya I hold his biggest secrets

And he holds my biggest fears

Any problem, we can beat it

As long as I’m right here

He really gets me

Then it hits me

CHORUS:

He knows me like apologies I give when he’s hurting

He knows me like the plans I drop to show up at his doorway

He knows the right movies to play when I’ve had a hard day

And that every time he leaves he knows I’ll stay

Yeah he knows me

And I know him

like the back of his hand

VERSE 2:

I know he doesn’t mean it

When he trips over the line

I believe in second chances

So I give them every time

My dad didn’t warn me

they weren’t all just like him

But if this finish line keeps moving

Its impossible to win

It’s not supposed to be easy

And then it hits me

CHORUS:

He knows me like apologies I give when he’s hurting

He knows me like the plans I drop to show up at his doorway

He knows the right movies to play when I’ve had a hard day

And that every time he leaves he knows I’ll stay

He knows me like the number he calls to reach my sister

So she’ll tell everyone that I’ve picked a winner

He knows I still believe that he can be a better man

Yeah he knows me

And I know him

like the back of his hand

BRIDGE:

As he backs out my driveway

Outraged

I’m feeling for the door

He heads for the highway

No brakes

I can’t breathe anymore

When he said he can’t live without me

I didn’t know to what extreme

we’re spinning out

Then slowing down

His arms across me now

He starts to cry

And apologize

There won’t be a next time

Another lie

Cause I know him

CHORUS:

I know him like apologies he gives when he hurts me

I know him like the flowers that’ll show up on my doorway

I know the words that he’ll say, to make it go away

And his promises to change that make me stay

He knows me

I know him

Like the back of his hand

TAG:

You should see him when he smiles

The way he lights up every room


Since 1984, American Songwriter’s Lyric Contest has helped aspiring songwriters get noticed and have fun. Enter the 2024 Lyric Contest today before the deadline:


Honorable Mentions:

“Tomorrow Will Come”
By Doc Strassberg

“Anniversary”
By Mike Conley

“HEROES”
By Debra Kim Wolf

“Gotta Get Back to Movin’ On”
By Jean Anne Cogdell and Bill Davie

“tequila or you”
By Natalie Witt and Nicole Witt

“French Cafe”
By Michael McNamara

“He Isn’t Yours to Love”
By Kelli Cates

“God, The Devil, & Me”
By Steven Huff

“New Year, New Me”
By Daniel Foshee and Marcus Hooper

“Granddaddy’s Truck”
By Marshall Watkins

“Ballad For the End of The World”
By Michael Gorey and Kelli Miles

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