Contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Jimmy Needham is one of the most talented names in Christian music today. I loved him when I first heard Forgiven and Loved; to date, that song is still in my Top 25 Most Played Songs of iTunes all-time (which doesn’t say much, other than how much I like that song). Frequently compared to artists like Jason Mraz and John Mayer, the comparison continues on in terms of how much these three artists like to stretch their creative wings and fly, so to speak. Needham’s latest CD, Nightlights (InPop Records), ups the ante on Needham’s musicality and reputation,
Nightlights‘s first single, the toe-tapper Yours to Take, is a little gem of a pop song, but Needham really shines on Grace Amazing, a raw rocker of a song that is now going for adds at CHR radio. (Yeah, Grace Amazing; this ain’t your grandma’s Amazing Grace.) Grace Amazing‘s lyrics speak very visually of what it means to be dead in sin and to be lifted up by love in grace. Rapper Trip Lee contributes some blazing-hot rap lyrics that just sizzle their way through Grace Amazing; between Lee and B. Reith, I think the future of Christian rap music is in interesting hands.
[poll id=”31″]
GRACE AMAZING
Jimmy Needham feat. Trip Lee
Trip Lee: Yeah, You give me grace amazing
You give me grace amazing
Jimmy Needham: You found my heart in the tomb
Wrapped up all lifeless and bruised
I was the living dead
Couldn’t even lift up my head
To see You enter the room
Oh, Oh, Oh
That’s how it is with us all
We weren’t just damaged
We fell dead at the fall
Only the innocent can breathe the air again
Underground, over my head
I’m almost sure I’m dead
Unless
You breathe life into me
I won’t ever feel my dead heart beating
But you open these blind eyes to see
That’s what makes Your grace amazing
No one can come to the Son
Unless the Father compels him to come
Our hearts are bottomless
If we’re autonomous
Why do we choose corruption
Underground, over my head
I’m almost sure I’m dead
Unless
You breathe life into me
I won’t ever feel my dead heart beating
But you open these blind eyes to see
That’s what makes Your grace amazing
Who’s a cripple encased in his heart of stone
Christ’s the name that I’m calling on, calling on
He’s the hope for the hopeless, y’all
We were saved when He chose and called
Where is life if its not in the King
You’re the God, lift Him up to all things
To His One, His Son
Trip Lee:
Look, you might have heard I was dead in the grave
With some shackles on my wrist
I was very enslaved to the lusts and the passions in various ways
In the band, on the horse, I was dead and depraved
Sight wasn’t just blurry and vague
I was blind as a bat, couldn’t thoroughly gaze
At the glory of Christ or the story of life
The Father said come to Him, but I hurried away
I was stuck, couldn’t choose to be found
Tell me when the last time you seen a dead man moving around
Couldn’t buy my freedom
I was truthfully bound
Couldn’t get myself saved
I was shooting them down
Only by God’s will does grace heal with great might
‘Cuz only the words of God can create life
Give joy, remove shackles and replace shame
I was raised by grace and I praise Christ
You breathe life into me
Now I finally feel my dead heart beating
You open my eyes to see
That’s what makes Your grace amazing
You breathe life into me
Now I finally feel my dead heart beating
You open my eyes to see
That’s what makes Your grace amazing
You give me grace amazing
Praise God for that grace amazing
You give me grace amazing
Praise God for that grace amazing
