Anytime you make a “Best Of” list for Zach Bryan, a lot is going to be left out.
But when it’s a list of his best lyrics, it’s actually impossible to get them all…
Zach has quite literally not put out a bad song. Sure, you can argue one is better than another, you can not be particularly fond of one, but you cannot in good conscience say anyone of them is objectively bad.
Especially when it comes to the songwriting.
It seems like no one, and I mean no one… is writing the catalogue of lyrics that can connect with their fans quite like Zach is right now. The guy puts words to the feelings people have had their whole lives yet were unable to express. Just watch the videos of fans at his concerts and its evident this is no ordinary musicians gaining steam.
He very well might be in a league of his own.
That being said, now that he’s been Honorably Discharged from the Navy and can focus on his music full-time, let’s look back at some of the best lyrics he’s written so far.
I tried to go into some of his less popular songs and purposely didn’t include some of his most popular lines from his most popular songs like “Godspeed,” “Condemned,” and “Heading South.”
Leaving
“And I hope the world don’t mind all the simple things I ask
Like a porch with good lighting and to hear my lady laugh”
From A Lover’s Point Of View
“You don’t have to drink tonight
Why don’t we just get some sleep
Cause I’m tired of crying in driveways
As you slur the words you speak.”
Messed Up Kid
“Well I guess old men on the street
Proves that time really does fly
And I guess pawn shop diamond rings
Proves that girls love goodbyes”
Ninth Cloud
“Then I’ll get on the road again
At another chance at fitting in
But fitting in to kids like me is dyin’
And I know when I’m with you
After one shot or twenty-two
And a cigarette I feel like I’m flying”
Loom
“But I don’t give a damn, I am not a smarter man
So I’m gonna say some words I shouldn’t
How do I make you fall in love with me?
Is it lost in the emptiness of apathy?
Should I fight for it like war, should I nail it down to the boards
Or do I live in a love I’m dying for?”
Hell Or Highwater
“Highwater or hell
Damn what comes tomorrow
Cause I will give you all the love
God’s given me to borrow”
Wild One
“I can tell you’ve got a lost soul
But you like it that way
Cause wild ones don’t need a damn home anyway”
Driving
“They told you it would go quick but you never tend to listen
Don’t you miss your mama boy hummin’ hymnals in the kitchen
The concrete is the same here as it is in Rogers County
I bet them boys are doin’ fine runnin’ roads without me
Don’t you miss the days when we’d sneak Jack in football games
No one in this town remembers my name anyway”
Hopefully
“And I don’t think those city girls are right for me
‘Cause I don’t fall for shallow pleasantries
And the conversation’s nice but all the talkin’ don’t seem right
To a soul that prefers silence and the trees”
Crooked Teeth
“And I would ride through Colorado on a rocky stretch of road
With no one who loves me as far as telephone poles go
I wish I was a trusted man, but a trusted man is weak
The only thing worth trusting is some brass through crooked teeth”