Great American Song Contest

23nd Annual Great American Song Contest
First Place Winner / Lyric Writing category

God or Something
©2020 Michael R. J. Roth/Eric Ramsey

You make a comprehensive list
Of all the things that don’t exist
Like love wrapped up inside a fist
Like the sudden snap of the wrist
Just when you thought it might have missed
It hits you in the pit
Of your existence
Like God or something

You read the lines of her face
To see if anyone can trace them
To your not-so-subtle lack of grace
But you know you can’t erase them
And you spent so many days
Trying to replace them
As if you were the one to blame
As if you were God or something

You wish you had a brand-new start
Or someone else could play your part
Where Christmas wouldn’t break your heart
And you would find beneath the tree
Another reason to believe
in God or something

Now I see you stack the deck
With a Bible and a pack of cigarettes
Nights in search of drive-by sex
Contemplating its effects
And the names of all the girls called “ex”
Pile up like highway wrecks
And you think what is coming next
Must be from God or something

I don’t know about this business of Christmas
I saw an old man sitting on a bench
Braving the cold in front of a church
Staring at the nativity
Looking at that little child
For what seemed like an eternity
Looking at that little child
As if he were God or something

You wish you had a brand-new start
Or someone else could play your part
Where Christmas wouldn’t break your heart
And you would find beneth the tree
Another reason to believe
in God or something