The ascension of TobyMac’s solo career has been nothing short of spectacular. In an era of declining music sales he has consistently defied the odds and has seen his sales increase with each new album release. This is no small feat. With his fourth studio album TONIGHT released on Feb. 9, he is poised to take things higher yet again.
Having climbed the mountain once with the group dcTalk (4 Grammys, more than 8 million albums sold), TobyMac knows how difficult the journey can be and how much work the process actually takes. Rarely does an artist get to soar to great heights for a second time, but soar he has. He took home his first Grammy as a solo artist last year after receiving Grammy nominations for each of his first four solo projects (Momentum, Welcome To Diverse City, Portable Sounds, Tonight). And last year TobyMac topped 2 million in total albums sold during his solo career. TobyMac has also remixed the Welcome to Diverse City album and Momentum, calling the new albums Renovating Diverse City and Re:Mix Momentum, respectively. He has done it with a combination of talent, hard work and humility which has produced songs that resonate with people from all walks of life .
Upon embarking on his solo career, Toby sought to surround himself with a talented and diverse cast of characters, aptly named the Diverse City Band. The result has been a musical fusion that radiates with an unquenchable energy and a penetrating message.
A self-professed perfectionist when making records—he’s been known to relentlessly tweak and massage every little thing in an inexorable effort to make it sound better—Toby is the first to admit that he has to work really hard to make great music. “That’s what drives me,” he says. “I feel like I have to work harder than other people to get there. Sometimes I feel like I’m slightly under-gifted; I usually don't sit down and write a great song in just a few minutes like others can. But I think my work ethic makes up for that.”
Starting with dcTalk, and then going solo when the group disbanded in 2000, Toby still clings to such rootsy notions as hard work, persistence, patience and—perhaps most relevant of all—the power of music, which he insists is still what keeps him going.
“It’s the truth,” he says. “I still believe that a song can penetrate a heart. I believe God can use a song to open someone’s mind and heart. Other songs can just drop what I call, 'the joy bomb' on somebody. I fight really hard to remain unjaundiced—to keep believing that you can actually walk into a studio and write a song that breathes life. That’s the hardest fight for a guy who’s been doing this for a while; it’s easy to fall into the trap of just making it your job. But I still believe that songs matter.”
The songs on TONIGHT certainly matter—everything from the prayerful first single “City On Our Knees” to the testimonial “Changed Forever,” from the worshipful “Captured” to the confessional “Start Somewhere,” and even down to the put-on-your-party-hat grooves of “Funky Jesus Music” and “ShowStopper.” One theme that runs loud and clear throughout is the idea that we all need God, and we need him now—this morning, this afternoon, tonight.
“Right here, right now / Under the stars / I promise You my heart / ’Cause it starts tonight,” Toby sings on the chorus of the title track. “If you gotta start somewhere why not here? If you gotta start sometime why not now?” he asks on “City on Our Knees.” And “I wanna straighten this before the sun goes down tonight,” he proclaims on “Start Somewhere.”
“There’s definitely a sense of urgency on this record,” says co-producer Chris Stephens, who has worked on TobyMac’s last three CDs. “And it’s an album that speaks of unity, of coming together and finding common ground to worship God.”
Toby has long had a passion for racial reconciliation and unity, a recurrent theme in his music. TONIGHT includes songs of reconciliation of another kind—between husband and wife. Toby and Amanda have been happily married for 15 years, but like all couples, it can be hard work sometimes. For Toby, who best expresses his emotions through music, it was a natural step to write about it. In “Hold On,” he sings, “If you move just a little bit closer / You can put your head on my shoulder . . . / Wipe away those tears / This one’s for you.” And on “Start Somewhere,” he’s downright confessional: “I said some things that I regret / And if I could, I’d take ’em back / But here I am, and there you are / The space between us is not so far / I’m reaching out my hand in love.”
“‘Hold On’ is very personal,” Toby says. “Many lines are there to encourage my wife, but I know those lines could encourage anybody in a relationship. As for ‘Start Somewhere,’ any time you’re in love with somebody, you’re going to bang heads from time to time. I don’t know how many times I’ve been lying in bed, sweating it out and thinking, How am I going to make this right? But then you reach that moment of apology and forgiveness. That’s one of my favorite songs on the record; it’s a personal perspective on confrontation and reconciliation.”
And then there’s “Wonderin’,” in which Toby reminisces about the past with Kevin Max and Michael Tait in dcTalk, one of Christian music’s biggest acts in the 1990s. “We was ridin’ in style, clockin’ them miles / With the songs that He put down deep in our hearts . . . / I’m wonderin’ ’bout the way I spend my days / Wonderin’ if it’s even worth the chase / Wonderin’ if they’re stealin’ me from you.”
“It’s just a warm look back at dc Talk,” says Toby, almost wistfully. “It’s reminiscing about Michael and Kevin and what we did together, and recognizing their influence on me. I love what I do today, but there are times when I wonder,What if we stayed together? I’ve got these dreams I’m pursuing now, but are they stealing me from you? I think about Kevin and Michael on every song I write. That's the truth man, we climbed a mountain together.”
Sonically, TONIGHT is typical TobyMac in many ways—an eclectic mix of rap, rock, pop and funk, all laden with catchy hooks and melodies just itching for airplay and audience singalongs. There’s even a healthy dose of reggae on the album closer “Break Open the Sky,” where Toby flexes his Jamaican family ties while Israel Houghton provides guest vocals. Other visiting vocalists include Skillet’s John Cooper on “Tonight” and Relient K’s Matthew Thiessen on “Wonderin’.”
Of course most of the vocals belong to the artist himself. Stephens says Toby “has stretched himself as a vocalist, he writes about things he is passionate about and his vocals reflect that urgency''. Toby agrees: “I do more singing on this record than ever before. I’m learning to use my vocal instrument in different ways, and I’m getting more comfortable with it everyday''.
It all adds up to a project that reflects one man’s desire to push himself beyond “very good,” to dig deep in the quest for that other country where greatness resides. He certainly reached for it. Hard.
“I’ve worked very hard not to fall into the trap of making this just a gig,” he says. “If it is a labor, it’s a labor of love. I know music can’t change the world, but who says God can't speak through a song."
Right here, right now. TONIGHT.
TobyMac is usually styled tobyMac or TOBYMAC
Ignition
TobyMac Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Turn it on
We can ride this storm
A grip of hope in our hands
For the coming dawn
Up to our necks in complexities
Causing us to pause
As we collect our thoughts
So don't blink if you wanna come cross the border
Take a look around or come test the water
We won't stop 'till we see the morning
So welcome to the quiet before the storm hits
Turn on, turn on the ignition
Everybody
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Comatose
Half-hearted
Room temperature's fine
Sleep walking, no dream is even filling our minds
Earth shaking
We be quaking like a wake up bomb
This ain't no trouble overseas
No Vietnam
So don't blink if you wanna come cross the border
Take a look around or come test the water
We won't stop 'till we see the morning
So welcome to the quiet before the storm hits
(Take it up a notch, come on, come on turn it up a notch.)
Turn on, turn on the ignition
Everybody
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Your sleep walking
I'm sleep walking
Your sleep walking
I'm still talking
Come spark the parts in me that all but died
Jump start my heart and wake the sleeper inside
Hold up the flag 'cause it's ride or die
Hold up the flag 'cause it's ride or die
The lyrics to TobyMac's song Ignition can be interpreted as a call to action or motivation for listeners to start living fully and passionately. The opening lines of "start it up, turn it on, we can ride this storm" imply that life is a journey with ups and downs, but with hope in hand, one can navigate it successfully. The next line speaks of complexities that can cause one to pause and collect their thoughts. This is followed by a call to action to not blink and miss out on opportunities.
The second verse speaks of living life in a comatose and half-hearted manner, with no dreams to fill our minds. The line "earth shaking, we be quaking like a wake-up bomb" suggests that the world has the potential to be thrilling and exciting, but we are not experiencing it fully. The final verse speaks of a desire to be awakened, to have our hearts jump-started and for the dormant parts of oneself to be brought back to life.
Overall, the song encourages listeners to take control of their lives, not to be afraid of the unknown, and to live fully with passion, excitement, and purpose.
Line by Line Meaning
Start it up
Begin the action
Turn it on
Activate the process
We can ride this storm
We can overcome every difficulty
A grip of hope in our hands
We have faith in success
For the coming dawn
For the future
Up to our necks in complexities
We are facing many problems
Causing us to pause
Making us wait for a moment
So don't blink if you wanna come cross the border
Be careful and attentive to succeed
Take a look around or come test the water
Explore the environment or experiment
We won't stop 'till we see the morning
We will keep going until we succeed
So welcome to the quiet before the storm hits
Get ready for the challenge ahead
Turn on, turn on the ignition Everybody
Activate the energy among us
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Let's get started with enthusiasm
Comatose
In a state of unconsciousness
Half-hearted
Lacking enthusiasm
Room temperature's fine
No need for excitement
Sleep walking, no dream is even filling our minds
Being passive without any ambition
Earth shaking
A significant event that makes us alert
We be quaking like a wake-up bomb
We are ready to wake up and take on a challenge
This ain't no trouble overseas
This is not an external problem
No Vietnam
No reference to a historical event
Your sleepwalking
You are passive
I'm sleepwalking
I am passive
Come spark the parts in me that all but died
Reignite the passion within me
Jump-start my heart and wake the sleeper inside
Activate my enthusiasm and motivation
Hold up the flag 'cause it's ride or die
Stand firm in the face of adversity
Lyrics © Capitol CMG Publishing
Written by: Chris Stevens, Toby McKeehan, Trevor McNevan
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@themangagirl9660
Start it up
Turn it on
We can ride this storm
A grip of hope in our hands
For the coming dawn
Up to our necks in complexities
Causing us to pause
As we collect our thoughts
So don't blink if you wanna come cross the border
Take a look around or come test the water
We won't stop 'till we see the morning
So welcome to the quiet before the storm hits
Turn on, turn on the ignition
Everybody
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Comatose
Half-hearted
Room temperature's fine
Sleep walking, no dream is even filling our minds
Earth shaking
We be quaking like a wake up bomb
This ain't no trouble overseas
No Vietnam
So don't blink if you wanna come cross the border
Take a look around or come test the water
We won't stop 'till we see the morning
So welcome to the quiet before the storm hits
Turn on, turn on the ignition
Everybody
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Your sleep walking
I'm sleep walking
Your sleep walking
I'm still talking
Come spark the parts in me that all but died
Jump start my heart and wake the sleeper inside
Hold up the flag 'cause it's ride or die
Hold up the flag 'cause it's ride or die
@arkham9843
I will ALWAYS have a HUGE soft spot for this song!! I remember listening to this on my desktop at the age of 9 or 10 and loving every moment...
@thereal.tensei
I was about 12 when i heard it first.. and damn, this song just popped in my head after a year or two without hearing it. Memories are coming back.
@joer8954
I actually found this song through that one Code Geass amv.
@kazanu23
This song is a legend in its own right and will be remembered always and always. Praise God for allowing songs like these to be so ENERGIZING!!!!!!
@themangagirl9660
Start it up
Turn it on
We can ride this storm
A grip of hope in our hands
For the coming dawn
Up to our necks in complexities
Causing us to pause
As we collect our thoughts
So don't blink if you wanna come cross the border
Take a look around or come test the water
We won't stop 'till we see the morning
So welcome to the quiet before the storm hits
Turn on, turn on the ignition
Everybody
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Comatose
Half-hearted
Room temperature's fine
Sleep walking, no dream is even filling our minds
Earth shaking
We be quaking like a wake up bomb
This ain't no trouble overseas
No Vietnam
So don't blink if you wanna come cross the border
Take a look around or come test the water
We won't stop 'till we see the morning
So welcome to the quiet before the storm hits
Turn on, turn on the ignition
Everybody
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Come on, come on and turn on the ignition
Your sleep walking
I'm sleep walking
Your sleep walking
I'm still talking
Come spark the parts in me that all but died
Jump start my heart and wake the sleeper inside
Hold up the flag 'cause it's ride or die
Hold up the flag 'cause it's ride or die
@gabe_f7106
Idk why you put the lyrics here but ... thanks
@matshitpostnt6000
Esta canción esta infravalorada 😢
@Scheurthiaume
THROW. BACK.
Who else thinks Portable Sounds is the best album Toby has ever released?
@jennesaelise8200
Scheurthiaume Yess!
@MaggieGraceWebb
Scheurthiaume Amen to that!