"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
I built a fortress with a hundred thousand faces
I'll keep it safe with a hundred thousand more
But these masks are wearing thin as You draw me in
I spent my time on the empty and the fleeting
I spent my life on much less than what I'd dreamed
But I'm reaching out to you to make me new
'Cause I am just a beggar here at Your door
I am just a shipwreck here on Your shore
I come empty handed ready to see
Your life in me changing who I've been, to who I need to be
To who I need to be
You tell me my story as You sift between the pages
I feel redemption in the space between each turn
Could You take me in Your arms and tell it just once more
Could You take me in Your arms and tell it just once more
'Cause I am just a beggar here at Your door
I am just a shipwreck here on Your shore
I come empty handed ready to see
Your life in me changing who I've been, who I've been
'Cause I am just a beggar here at Your door
I am just a shipwreck here on Your shore
I come empty handed ready to see
Your life in me changing who I've been, to who I need to be
I'll keep it safe with a hundred thousand more
But these masks are wearing thin as You draw me in
I spent my time on the empty and the fleeting
I spent my life on much less than what I'd dreamed
But I'm reaching out to you to make me new
'Cause I am just a beggar here at Your door
I am just a shipwreck here on Your shore
I come empty handed ready to see
Your life in me changing who I've been, to who I need to be
To who I need to be
You tell me my story as You sift between the pages
I feel redemption in the space between each turn
Could You take me in Your arms and tell it just once more
Could You take me in Your arms and tell it just once more
'Cause I am just a beggar here at Your door
I am just a shipwreck here on Your shore
I come empty handed ready to see
Your life in me changing who I've been, who I've been
'Cause I am just a beggar here at Your door
I am just a shipwreck here on Your shore
I come empty handed ready to see
Your life in me changing who I've been, to who I need to be
Lyrics submitted by fresh_pickles
Shipwreck Lyrics as written by Jon Neufeld Jason Ingram
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Capitol CMG Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is an absolutely beautiful song, and it's astonishing that no one has taken the time to comment on this yet. This song is more or less about a person needing God to truly achieve their greatest of heights - that they can't proceed forward without God's aid and his power to change.
I'm not Christian, though, so I'm not entirely sure. ^^;;
your right. This song goes deeper i believe. How we all have these masks and faces that we try to portray to the world, but they began to fall off as we are drawn to God, and we become our true selves. cuase face it, He knows us better than we know ourselves. I did things two years that today i'm like "what was i thinking?"
xxcantabile...wow....i'm a Christian and i don't think i could've put that into the same words as you anyways i agree with you...this song is good
yup. I think xxcantabile hit it right on.
waters my eyes just reading them. We're the beautiful letdown, depending on GOd for love