2025 Competition Lyrics Entry:

Ten Times the Man by Steve Manuel

Lyrics

You get what you pay for
And I paid through the nose
I trusted you
But you were nothing but pose

Name, rank and number
Were all you left me with
You brought me to my knees
But honey, it was a gift

It’s been a long, hard road to recovery
But baby, here I am
Two times the effort, three times the cost
Ten times the man

Still kick myself,
Stretch myself on the rack
For being foolish enough
To think that you had my back

Hindsight’s 20 / 20
Still, I should have seen
That you’d leave me in the red
While you took all the green

It’s hard to pick yourself up when you’ve been betrayed
But I did, walked and then ran
Two times the effort, three times the cost
Ten times the man

Thought I was grown
But years don’t mean a thing
It’s the pain that makes you
And the lessons it brings

So, in a way I thank you
For nearly killing me
Like gold through the fire
A ship, tested at sea

It takes an awful lot of pressure to make a diamond
But baby, here I stand
Two times the effort, three times the cost
Ten times the man

It takes an awful lot of pressure to make a diamond
But baby, here I stand
Two times the effort, three times the cost
Ten times the man.

Author

Bio

While my career was a fulfilling one – producer at NBC news, executive producer at the Discovery Channel – its demands relegated songwriting to an avocation.

Now retired, I’m devoting as much time as possible to it, elevating songwriting to the calling it has always been.

Co-author(s)

Lyrics Competition Results

Emotional Impact:
12/ 20
Technical Skill:
10/ 20
Memorability:
9/ 20
Storytelling:
13/ 20
Imagery:
13/ 20
Total Score:
57/ 100
Commended

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