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Congratulations to all our July/August 2021 Lyric Contest winners! CLICK HERE to enter the September/October contest, deadline July 15 @ 11:59 PM CST.

1st place

 “Anymore” (Read Q&A)
 By Chelsea McWilliams & Tim Allard
 Burlington, ON (CAN)
  
 I don’t want to dream anymore
 See you standing in the door
 Feel your shadow by my bed
 Hear your voice inside my head
 So I’m not going to dream anymore
  
 I don’t want to drive anymore
 Hear your song play in my car
 Pass some place we used to go
 See the friends I used to know
 So I’m not going to drive anymore
  
 No more fighting, no more feeling
 Try to reason with myself
 Another night, another demon
 Another bottle off the shelf
 Forget the life that you and I used to live before
 And be someone who isn’t going to love you anymore
  
 I don’t want to drink anymore
 Walk into the liquor store
 See you standing in the line
 I’ll give up whisky, give up wine
 No I’m not going to drink anymore
  
 No more fighting, no more feeling
 Try to reason with myself
 Another night, another demon
 Another bottle off the shelf
 Forget the life that you and I used to live before
 And be someone who isn’t going to love you anymore 

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


2nd Place

 “Corpus Christi”
 By Kevin Myers
 Liberty Hill, TX
  
 Verse 1:
 It’s raining down in Corpus
 And Christy’s in the shade
 Underneath the looming shadow
 The harbor bridge has made
 The feeling of the moment
 Was like the clouds
 It’s raining down in Corpus
 The sky is coming down
  
 Verse 2:
 It’s raining down in Corpus
 Christy’s all alone
 A long way from Crystal City
 She ran away from home
 It was on her 16th birthday
 She got a brand new car
 It’s raining down in Corpus
 How’d she ever get this far
  
 Verse 3:
 It’s raining down in Corpus
 And 7 days have passed
 Since she sped out of the driveway
 With her hormones on the gas
 She didn’t see her little brother
 Until it was far too late
 Storm clouds began to form
 So she headed for the rain
  
 Bridge:
 Watch yourself when you’re feeling down
 When you go to low coming back around
 Feels like a marathon
 And it’s hard to run
  
 Verse 4:
 When it’s raining down in Corpus
 The city’s all abuzz
 A newsman’s taking pictures
 Telling lies of who she was
 She took a walk that misty morning
 On the busy harbor bridge
 And it was raining so inside her
 She stepped off of the ledge
  
 Verse 5:
 It’s raining down in Corpus
 And Christy’s in the shade
 Underneath the looming shadow
 The harbor bridge has made
 The feeling of the moment
 Was like the clouds
 It’s raining down in Corpus
 The sky is coming down
  
  
  
  
 3rd Place
  
 “JOHNNY WITHOUT JUNE”
 By Maxine Wallace
 Truro, NS (CAN)
  
  
 I feel the sunrise on my eyes
 The lightness of the morning air
 I tell myself the same old lies
 And picture you still lying there
 I feel the softness of your skin
 So beautiful it steals my breath
 The hunger when you pulled me in
 As real as if you never left
  
 CHORUS
 I'm the earth without the sun
 A bullet with no gun
 I'm a song without a tune
 A lone wolf howling at the moon
 I’m Johnny without June
  
 I feel the darkness closing in
 The world around me shutting down
 Night falling with familiar sin
 The bottle's all that calls me now
 The whiskey whispers tempting lies
 But I know how it always goes
 False promises to take me high
 Flying first, then sinking low
  
 CHORUS
 I'm a sailor lost at sea
 Finding how deep blue can be
 I'm a song without a tune
 A lone wolf howling at the moon
 I'm Johnny without June
  
 BRIDGE
 I’d give anything to turn back time
 Anything to walk the line
  
 CHORUS
 Nothing's real but memory
 Without you there is no me
 I'm a song without a tune
 A lone wolf howling at the moon
 I'm Johnny without June
  
  
  
  
 4th Place
  
 “WHO KNEW LOVE COULD SOUND LIKE THIS”
 By Zach Henard, Hal ODell (entrant), Greg Wilson
 Nashville, TN
  
  
 V1
 SHE WAS THE GIGGLE IN THE BACK OF HIS 9TH GRADE HISTORY CLASSROOM
 THE OFF-KEY SINGING BESIDE HIM IN HIS RUSTY JEEP
 THAT FALL ASLEEP ON THE COUCH SNORE, SHE SWORE NEVER HAPPENED
 SHE WAS THAT SCREAM YES ‘FORE HE COULD GET DOWN ON ONE KNEE
 WHO KNEW LOVE COULD SOUND LIKE THIS
  
 CH
 EVERYBODY KNOWS LOVE SOUNDS LIKE JUNE WEDDING BELLS
 IT’S SINATRA PLAYING SOFTLY IN THE DARK
 BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CRACKLING OF A BONFIRE IN OCTOBER
 OR THE BEATING OF A NEWBORN BABY’S HEART
 OR HIS NAME ROLLING SOFTLY OFF HER LIPS
 WHO KNEW LOVE, WHO KNEW LOVE COULD SOUND LIKE THIS
  
 V2
 IT WAS NEVER QUIET IN THAT HOUSE OFF OF MAIN STREET
 DOGS AND CHILDREN, TEARS AND LAUGHTER SHOOK THE WALLS
 CRICKETS SANG AS THEY SPENT EVENINGS ON THAT PORCH SWING
 HOLDING HANDS NOT SAYING ANYTHING AT ALL
 WHO KNEW LOVE COULD SOUND LIKE THIS
  
 CH
  
 BRIDGE
 NOW HE’S SITTING IN A COLD CHAIR AT THE HOSPITAL
 ALWAYS THOUGHT HE’D BE THE FIRST TO LEAVE
 HE HOLDS HER HAND AND LISTENS TO HER BREATHE
  
 LAST CHORUS
 EVERYBODY KNOWS LOVE SOUNDS LIKE JUNE WEDDING BELLS
 IT’S SINATRA PLAYING SOFTLY IN THE DARK
 BUT WHAT ABOUT THE MUSIC OF A LIFETIME LIVED TOGETHER
 OR THE BEATING OF A LONELY BROKEN HEART
 OR HIS NAME ROLLING SOFTLY OFF HER LIPS
 WHAT HE'D GIVE TO HEAR HIS NAME ON HER LIPS
 WHO KNEW LOVE, WHO KNEW LOVE COULD SOUND LIKE THIS
  
  
  
 Honorable Mention
  
  
 “Ptarmigan Lake”
 By Christopher O'Brien
 Saint Paul, MN
  
 “You Really Don’t Know”
 Russell Lindway
 Seven Hills, OH
  
 “Me and Drinkin’”
 By Fred LeBaron
 Downer’s Grove, IL
  
 “Stardust and Clay”
 By Roger Blake
 Corry, PA
  
 “Bird’s Eye View”
 By Eley Buchanan
 Beckville, TX
  
 “Loneliness”
 By Nancy Haase
 Antioch, TN
  
 “I’ve Been on That Bridge”
 By Shelly Riff and Jerry Silverstein (entrant)
 Calverton, NY
  
 “Johnny’s Cash”
 By Brooke Brown
 Orange Beach, AL
  
 “He Made You For Me”
 By Robert Salas
 Austin, TX
  
 “The Garden at Granddad’s House”
 By Rhubert Blake Roberson
 Dunlap, TN 

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


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