I. David Wilcox i… Read Full Bio ↴There are at least two artists named David Wilcox.
I. David Wilcox is a Canadian rock and blues musician.
II. David Wilcox is an American folk musician and singer-songwriter guitarist.
I. More than three decades into his career, singer/songwriter David Wilcox continues to push himself, just as he always has. Wilcox, by so many measures, is a quintessential folk singer, telling stories full of heart, humor, and hope, substance, searching, and style. His innate sense of adventure and authenticity is why critics and colleagues, alike, have always praised not just his artistry, but his humanity, as well.
That's not by accident; it's very much by design. It's the result of a man giving himself over in gratitude and service to something bigger than himself. “I'm grateful to music,” he says. “I have a life that feels deeply good, but when I started playing music, nothing in my life felt that good. I started to write songs because I wanted to find a way to make my life feel as good as I felt when I heard a great song. I don't think I'd be alive now if it had not been for music.”
An early '80s move to Warren Wilson College in North Carolina set his wheels in motion, as he started playing guitar and writing songs, processing his own inner workings and accessing his own inner wisdom. In 1987, within a couple of years of graduating, Wilcox had released his first independent album, The Nightshift Watchman. A year later, he won the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Award and, in 1989, he signed with A&M Records, selling more than 100,000 copies of his A&M debut, How Did You Find Me Here.
In the 30 years and more than 20 records since — whether with a major label, an indie company, or his own imprint — Wilcox has continued to hone his craft, pairing thoughtful insights with his warm baritone, open tunings, and deft technique. He's also kept up a brisk and thorough tour itinerary, performing 80 to 100 shows a year throughout the U.S., and regularly deploying his talents by improvising a “Musical Medicine” song for an audience member in need. In recent years he’s taken that process a step further, carefully writing and recording dozens of his “Custom Songs” for long-time fans who seek his help in commemorating and explaining the key milestones in their lives.
Lest anyone think that he's lost his touch, Wilcox pulled no punches on his most recent release, 2018's The View From the Edge. Not only does the song cycle find him delving into mental health, family legacies, spiritual contemplations, and topical concerns, the song “We Make the Way By Walking" also won him the Grand Prize in the 2018 USA Songwriting Contest.
"I think the coolest thing about this kind of music is that, if you listen to a night's worth of music, you should know that person,” he explains. “If you're hearing a performer sing all these songs, you should know not only where he gets his joy and what he loves, but you should know what pisses him off and what frightens him and what runs him off the rails, what takes him apart and what puts him back together.”
To attain that level of revelatory honesty, Wilcox follows a song to its deepest truth, even when it haunts him, a practice which demands the strength of vulnerability that he has sought since his teen years. That honesty is why Rolling Stone has written that his “ongoing musical journey is compelling and richly deserving of a listen.” It's also why Blue Ridge Public Radio has noted that, “The connection people feel with David’s music is also the connection they feel with each other.”
But Wilcox's unique brand of storytelling doesn't come easily. And it doesn't come quickly. “I could always think of a lot of possible ways the song could go, but the trick was recognizing truth amidst all the cleverness,” he confesses. “The more time I took, the more my deep heart could speak to me through the process of songwriting. I could gradually craft a song that felt like it was coming from the place I was going. If you decide to trust heart over cleverness, you not only get a song that moves you, you get a song that moves you toward being who you want to be. The time you spend immersed in the emotion of a song changes you. The song shows you the world through a particular point of view. Once you have seen the world that way, you can't un-see it.”
Website: David Wilcox
II. The American David Wilcox was born in Cleveland, Ohio. His work features lyrical insight, asmooth baritone voice, virtuosic guitar chops, and creative open tunings. He released an independent album in 1987, won the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk award in 1988, and by 1989 he had signed with A&M Records. His first release on the label, ‘How Did You Find Me Here’, sold over 100,000 copies its first year. 17 albums later his songs have been covered by artists such as k.d. lang and many others.
Grateful For Her Beauty
David Wilcox Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She moved in liquid music
Like every song that moved us
Was the music of her soul
And waking up at sunrise
With the sunlight through her window
I pulled aside the curtain
When she danced
She knew the music
Like the waving of a wheat field
Gives the hidden wind away
So, I'm so grateful for her beauty
And I knew she could not stay
Just the fragrance of her memory
In the satin and the velvet
Time split through a prism
And I knew that she was gone
But I found the note she'd written
If my heart could dare to trust her
Through the journey in the darkness
She'd be with me in the dawn
When she danced
The music knew her
Like the instruments were listening
To the motion that she played
I'm so grateful for her beauty
And I knew she could not stay
So I stepped out on the sidewalk
And I closed the door behind me
Following a fragrance
That was carried on the wind
And I knew I'd never reach her
Cause the starlight was the distance
But I knew that right beside me
Was where she'd always been
Now when we dance
She moves right through me
I know love is coming to me
From the promise that she made
So, I'm so grateful for her beauty
Cause it made my heart so brave
Cause it made my heart so brave
I'm grateful for her beauty
Cause it made my heart so brave
For her beauty...
© 2006 Gizz Da Baboo (SESAC) (administered by Michelle Ma Soeur (SESAC), a division of Soroka Music Ltd.)
All rights reserved.
David Wilcox's song "Grateful For Her Beauty" paints a picture of a beautiful and free-spirited woman who captures the heart of the singer. The song opens with the singer describing the woman dancing to "liquid music," moving in a way that suggests the music is her soul. The singer is captured by her beauty and grateful for it. The scene changes, and the singer wakes up to find himself alone, the woman gone. He finds a note she left him that suggests she will be with him always, though they are physically apart. The singer concludes the song by saying that now when he dances, the woman moves inside him.
The lyrics of this song are poetic and use beautiful images to convey the singer's emotions. The woman in the song symbolizes freedom, beauty, and escape. The singer is drawn to her, and her music touches him deeply. The song captures the feeling of being in love with someone who cannot be with you, but where the connection is so strong you feel them near anyway. The beautiful and free spirit of the woman in this song represents the type of person who is never forgotten and whose essence lives on.
Line by Line Meaning
The night I saw her dancing
He vividly recalls the night he saw her dance
She moved in liquid music
Her dance was so fluid and graceful, it felt as if she was moving with the rhythm of music
Like every song that moved us
Her dancing had the power to move everyone who was watching her
Was the music of her soul
Her soul was so pure and beautiful that it was reflected in her dancing and touched everyone's hearts
And waking up at sunrise
After spending the night with her, he woke up early in the morning
With the sunlight through her window
There was sunlight coming through her window, creating a beautiful aura around her
I pulled aside the curtain
He opened the curtains to let more light in and see her better
Far away from home
He was in a different place, away from his home and usual surroundings
When she danced
Every time she danced
She knew the music
She was so connected to the music that she knew every beat and every rhythm
Like the waving of a wheat field
Her body movements were as natural and effortless as the waving of a wheat field under the wind
Gives the hidden wind away
Her dancing was a reflection of her inner self and it revealed her beauty to others
So, I'm so grateful for her beauty
He expresses his gratitude for her beauty and what it added to his life
And I knew she could not stay
He knew that their time together was limited and that they would soon have to part ways
Just the fragrance of her memory
After she left, he could only remember the sweet scent of her perfume as a memory of her presence
In the satin and the velvet
He remembers her through the soft, luxurious fabrics that she wore
Time split through a prism
The time they spent together passed so quickly that it seemed to him as if it fractured into different colors, like a prism
And I knew that she was gone
He was aware of her absence
But I found the note she'd written
He discovered a note that she had left behind
If my heart could dare to trust her
She had asked him to trust her, but he wasn't sure if he could
Through the journey in the darkness
She promised to stay with him through difficult times, even when everything around them was dark
She'd be with me in the dawn
She assured him that she would be with him when the sun rose and a new day began
When she danced
Every time she danced
The music knew her
The music was so familiar to her that it felt as if it knew her as well
Like the instruments were listening
The instruments played the music as if they were listening to her commands
To the motion that she played
Her playing was so natural that it felt as if she was moving with the music instead of the other way around
I'm so grateful for her beauty
He expresses his gratitude for her beauty and what it added to his life
And I knew she could not stay
He knew that their time together was limited and that they would soon have to part ways
So I stepped out on the sidewalk
He left the building and walked out on the sidewalk
And I closed the door behind me
He closed the door to her place behind him
Following a fragrance
He could smell her perfume and it prompted him to follow her scent
That was carried on the wind
Her scent was carried by the wind, making it easier for him to follow it
And I knew I'd never reach her
He realized that he would never be able to catch up to her, realistically speaking
Cause the starlight was the distance
She was so far away that he could only see her as a distant star shining in the sky
But I knew that right beside me
He realized that the memory of her beauty was still with him, which was just as valuable
Was where she'd always been
Her beauty had left a lasting impression on him that would always be with him
Now when we dance
In the present moment or in his imagination
She moves right through me
He feels as if she is dancing with him or that her memory is inspiring him to move
I know love is coming to me
He feels hopeful and optimistic about finding love again in the future
From the promise that she made
He remembers the promise she made to stay with him, which he interprets as a promise of love for the future
So, I'm so grateful for her beauty
He expresses his gratitude for her beauty and what it added to his life
Cause it made my heart so brave
Her beauty inspired him to be brave and take risks in his life
Cause it made my heart so brave
He repeats the previous line to emphasize the impact her beauty had on him
I'm grateful for her beauty
He expresses his gratitude for her beauty and what it added to his life
Cause it made my heart so brave
He repeats the previous line to emphasize the impact her beauty had on him
For her beauty...
The song ends on a reflective and grateful note, focusing on the impact her beauty had on his life
Contributed by Wyatt F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.