September/October 2022 Lyric Contest Winner

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

CLICK HERE to enter the November/December contest.

1st Place

“Even the House Misses You” by Laura Lemons

Lyrics:

Even the House Misses You:

An empty brick house stands

Where the roses always bloom

And in the kitchen against a wall

Sits an old worn out broom

Crumbs and dirt have come and gone

So against the wall it lays

How funny to think a broom, alone

But there all alone, it stays

The cupboards lined with coffee cups

And your medicine still in the drawer

Thought time would make this easier

But it’s harder now than before

Chorus

What a life you must have lived

To make this all so true

It’s not just us, you see

Even the house misses you

Some things are still in places

Where your hands placed them last

For time to move so slowly

It has surely moved so fast

Your chair by the window sits

And your tobacco waits idly by

The trees look heavy with sorrow

And even the dogwood seems to cry

Chorus

What a life you must have lived

To make this all so true

It’s not just us, you see

Even the house misses you

Bridge

The walls still hold your pictures

And oh the stories they could tell

But the closets miss you the most

For they have kept your smell

The hangers still with suits

And the racks that guard your shoes

No wonder we’re still grieving

Even the house misses you.

Chorus

What a life you must have lived

To make this all so true

It’s not just us, you see

Even the house misses you

2nd Place

“Lucky Enough” by James Ellis

Lyrics:

VERSE 1

If I never find a four-leaf clover at my feet

If I play every day and never win the lottery

I’ll still be grinnin’ like a gambler

With a royal flush and no need to bluff

Cause I’m lucky

I’m lucky enough

VERSE 2

I used to wake up wishin’ for better days

Different life where I strike it rich and have it made

But now I’m countin’ my blessings

And finding diamonds in the rough

Cause I’m lucky

I’m lucky enough

CHORUS

Lucky enough to be lucky in love

Lucky to find the one I’d always dreamed of

Maybe you were sent from above

Maybe I’m just lucky

Lucky enough to be lucky in love

Honey, you’re the only thing I’m sure of

Even if the road gets rough

With you I’m lucky

Lucky enough

VERSE 3

The dreams of the spotlight and stage may never leave

And the rhymes that hide from the page still tug at my sleeve

But as long as I can find the line

To make your heart listen up

Then I’m lucky

I’m lucky enough

CHORUS

Lucky enough to be lucky in love

Lucky to find the one I’d always dreamed of

Maybe you were sent from above

Maybe I’m just lucky

Lucky enough to be lucky in love

Honey, you’re the only thing I’m sure of

Even if the road gets rough

With you I’m lucky

Lucky enough

BRIDGE:

So let’s roll the dice

On the rest of our lives

Put your hand in mine

The odds are on our side

FINAL CHORUS

We’re lucky enough to be lucky in love

Lucky to find the one we always dreamed of

Maybe we were sent from above

Maybe we’re just lucky

Lucky enough to be lucky in love

Honey, we’re the only thing I’m sure of

Even if the road gets rough

You know we’re lucky

Lucky enough to be lucky in love

Baby, we’re the only thing I’m sure of

Even if the road gets rough

You know we’re lucky

Lucky enough

Yeah we’re lucky

Lucky enough

3rd Place

“Sweet Rambling Boy” By Red Diamond

Lyrics:

bottle caps and silver dollars

glisten in the weeds by blue highways

do you gather them, sweet rambling boy

for gambling wheels and banquets and bouquets?

and when you’re chewing on a toothpick

kicking stones along a shaded country lane

and the music of everything runs through your mind

does it ever call my name?

and when that music spills and races

through the chambers of your soul

and soothes you with its rare and minor keys

I watch you dancing like you’re pinned to a clothesline

in an east Kentucky breeze

mocking birds sing crazily all night

while magnolia blossoms bloom

would you stain your knees with buttercups, sweet rambling boy

if we fell in love by June?

and as brick and mortar dreams arise

and break apart the smoke rings of desire

do you watch them gather silently, sweet rambling boy

as birds upon a wire?

now the fence posts stand like soldiers

and the fire hydrants look

like guardians and warriors

like bishops, knights, and rooks

have the people fled before them

and do you wonder if they went

to shopping mall cathedrals where salvation

is so convenient?

in Springfield there’s a tower

that’s built around a bell that never rings

do you harvest these silences, sweet rambling boy

and twist them into fiddle strings?

were we bound by chains of circumstantial incidents?

was it fate or was it just coincidence?

all I know is somehow

as we chastened non-believers

and cut down over-achievers

we got swept up in such fevers

but for all the trials I faced with you

all the faith I placed in you

all the pain’s erased, sweet rambling boy

4th Place

“A Slow Break” by  Tim Hedrich

Lyrics:

Moon hung high that night like a lead balloon,

Nightbirds echo their cry, so out of tune,

Clouds were moving in,

Weather was turning,

We knew it then,

Our love was burning,

You told me you would not walk away,

But I knew that’s no promise to stay,

It’s a lie we make,

It’s a life we fake,

It’s a heart we take,

Nothing hurts more

than a slow break.

Our monument to love a thousand wine bottles fueled,

A shining artifice that had everyone fooled,

When the rains finally came,

should have known it would drown.

Our hearts became life rafts,

With no land around.

You told me you would not break my heart,

But it was broken, right from the start,

It’s a lie we make,

It’s a love we fake,

It’s a heart we take,

Nothing hurts more

than a slow break.

So let’s stop acting out this fiction, babe,

Let’s cut to the chase,

Stringin’ it out is not the way,

It’s the truth we need face.

So let’s stop pushing food around the plate,

Let’s finish this meal,

Everyone thought we were too good to fail,

Not too good to be real.

It’s a lie we make,

It’s a life we fake,

It’s a heart we take,

Nothing hurts more

than a slow break.

HONORABLE MENTION: 

“Can’t Lose for Winning”

By Jordan Lloyd

“Little Country Home”

By Bob Sinclair

“The Song”

By Robert Jude Romero

“Bright Red Lips (A Song for Mom)”

By Meghan Cary

“A Road is Just a Road”

By Carin Fradin and Lauren Patton

“This Side of Tennessee”

By Jared Burton

“How to Make a Paper Airplane”

By Andy Zipf

“Relative Stride”

By Dale Giffen

“The Ballad of Billy Bridger”

By Geoff Bartley

“Tree of Life”

By Debra Wolf Goldstein and Adrian Apollo