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.
Last One Gone
David Wilcox Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He would raise his face up to the sky
The sunlight reflecting on the water
And she flew so close as she passed by
But that's just an old man's story
That I have never seen
And big change was ringing in their ears
It's a one cry slipping into silence
It was one voice never more to hear
The clatter of the dozers
The smoke of the machine
The edge is getting closer all the time
The edge is getting closer all the time
So light, lightly on the wind
So far from where she'd always been
I saw as if I could have known
Leaving her home, flying alone
That was the last one gone
The last one gone
Gone, gone in all its glory
Gone and never said goodbye
Gone, just an old mans story
That was the last time she would fly
Fly, fly lightly on the wind
Fly far from where she'd always been
I saw as if I could have known
Leaving her home, flying alone
That was the last one gone
The last one gone
That was the last time she would fly
Gone
The song 'Last One Gone' by David Wilcox is an ode to nature and a critique of human progress. The lyrics are poignant and evoke a sense of melancholy as the song talks about the last eagle that flew over the sky. The song's first stanza sets up the scene of the eagle that Wilcox's grandfather often talked about, which shows the beauty of nature and how one can feel connected to it. Wilcox's grandfather would look up to the sky, and the sunlight reflecting on the water, and the eagle would fly so close as she passed by. The eagle serves as a symbol of freedom and majesty that humans can't ever have.
However, Wilcox's contemporary observations describe a world in which the eagle's habitat is being destroyed recklessly. Progress, particularly industrialization and urbanization, has caused significant changes in the environment. Rich people only talk about the future without preserving the world for the coming generations. The second stanza speaks about the damage that humanity has caused to the environment. The sounds of dozers and smoke from the machines have depleted nature's resources, and the edge, meaning the limit of destruction, is getting closer to the destruction of the environment.
The chorus of the song repeats the phrase, "That was the last one gone," which emphasizes the loss of the eagle as a symbol of freedom in the world. The eagle, which was once there, soaring across the sky with its glory, is now just an old man's story. The last eagle's disappearance marks the end of something that should have never happened. Even, if humans try to create something beautiful to replace it, they can never succeed in creating an eagle's majesty. The song concludes with a refrain of the last one gone that evokes emotions of loss, regret, and mourning over humanity's eventual destruction of nature.
Line by Line Meaning
When my grandfather spoke about the eagle
My grandfather used to tell me stories about eagles
He would raise his face up to the sky
He would look up towards the sky as he spoke
The sunlight reflecting on the water
The water glistened under the sunlight
And she flew so close as she passed by
The eagle flew very close to where they were standing
But that's just an old man's story
I have never personally seen or experienced what my grandfather spoke about
That I have never seen
I have only heard about it
Cause rich men talked about the future
Powerful and wealthy individuals were discussing future plans and changes
And big change was ringing in their ears
They were actively anticipating and discussing significant changes
It's a one cry slipping into silence
A single voice was fading away into silence
It was one voice never more to hear
That voice would never be heard again
The clatter of the dozers
The sound of bulldozers and heavy machinery
The smoke of the machine
The smoke coming from the machines
The edge is getting closer all the time
The destruction and boundary was getting closer and closer
So light, lightly on the wind
The eagle was flying gently on the wind
So far from where she'd always been
The eagle was far from its natural habitat
I saw as if I could have known
I witnessed the eagle as if I had personal knowledge and connection to it
Leaving her home, flying alone
The eagle left its habitat and was flying on its own
That was the last one gone
That was the last eagle to leave that particular area
Gone, gone in all its glory
The eagle had left and was gone in all its majestic beauty
Gone and never said goodbye
The eagle left without any farewell or warning
Gone, just an old mans story
All that remained of the eagle was an old man's story of its existence
That was the last time she would fly
The eagle would never fly in that area again
Fly, fly lightly on the wind
The eagle was gently flying away on the wind
Fly far from where she'd always been
The eagle was going far from its natural habitat
That was the last one gone
That was the last eagle to leave that particular area
The last one gone
The last eagle to leave that particular area
Lyrics © SOROKA MUSIC LTD.
Written by: DAVID WILCOX, TOM PRASADA-RAO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind