The Wreckage

Album: Harmonium (2004)
Play Video
  • Speeding into the horizon
    Dreaming of the sirens
    Wishing for broken glass on a highway
    It could be so easy

    The rhythm, the rhythm of an engine
    Always makes me empty
    I see the headlights coming at me
    I can't help but wonder

    Flying, flying in slow motion
    The wind through my hair
    And ripping through the scenery
    Oh, the wreckage
    It is my secret need

    Oh, speeding into the horizon
    Dreaming of the sirens
    Wishing for broken glass on a highway
    It could be so easy Writer/s: VANESSA CARLTON
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 2

  • Emmie from Devils Den, CaTo me this song, as well as many songs on Harmonium which are so brilliantly written to be both pungent and obscure, is about an artists coming of age in a town of excess and getting caught up in sex, stimulents, and song. Things in support would be her history with ballet, weight and body dysmorphias, and her own journey into celebrity at a still young and vulnerable age. This song plays toward the end of the album as she has discovered her ability to self regulate has been lost, as well as she has lost herself. Speeding in slow motion is a common description of overamping when ingesting illegal stimulants. Broken glass refers to the drug itsself while simultaneously describing the loss of control and desire to end the insanity. The empty feelings that fill her during the mundane and as the risk draqs near she contemplates entertaining it. Flying is the high and slow motion refers again to the overamping, the wrsckage whicb has become her life while she deems it undesirable still draws her in again. "Speed"ing, wreckless, imagining the crisis to come, perhaps not indulging yet, but still it stays so close in a battle with herself and her desires.
  • Maddie from New York, Ny"The Wreckage" is about a car accident and how everything slows down at that time. She wishes that someone could save her but she is "speading into the horizon".
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Jesus In Pop Hits: The Gospel Songs That Went Mainstream

Jesus In Pop Hits: The Gospel Songs That Went MainstreamSong Writing

These overtly religious songs crossed over to the pop charts, despite resistance from fans, and in many cases, churches.

Tim Butler of The Psychedelic Furs

Tim Butler of The Psychedelic FursSongwriter Interviews

Tim and his brother Richard are the Furs' foundation; Tim explains how they write and tells the story of "Pretty In Pink."

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New York

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New YorkSong Writing

Our chat with Barney Hoskyns, who covers the wild years of Woodstock - the town, not the festival - in his book Small Town Talk.

Motley Crue

Motley CrueFact or Fiction

Was Dr. Feelgood a dentist? Did the "Crüecifixion" really happen?

Dave Edmunds

Dave EdmundsSongwriter Interviews

A renowned guitarist and rock revivalist, Dave took "I Hear You Knocking" to the top of the UK charts and was the first to record Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk."

Stan Ridgway

Stan RidgwaySongwriter Interviews

Go beyond the Wall of Voodoo with this cinematic songwriter.