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.
Missing you
David Wilcox Lyrics
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I always catch my breath
And I'm still standing here
And you're miles away
And I'm wondering why you left
And there's a storm that's ragin'
Through my frozen heart tonight
And it always makes me smile
I spend my time thinkin' about you
And it's almost drivin' me wild
And there's a heart that's breakin'
Down this long distance line tonight
I ain't missin' you at all
Since you've been gone away
I ain't missin' you at all
No matter what I might say
There's a message in the wire
And I'm sending you this signal tonight
You don't know how desperate I've become
And it looks like I'm losin' this fight
In your world I have no meaning
Though I'm trying hard to understand
But it's my heart that's breakin'
Down this long distance line tonight
I ain't missin' you at all
Since you've been gone away
I ain't missin' you at all
No matter what my friends say
But there's a message that I'm sending out
Like a telegraph to your soul
If I can't bridge this distance
Stop this heart break overload
I ain't missin' you
I ain't missin' you
I can lie to myself
But there's a storm that's ragin'
Through my frozen heart tonight
I ain't missin' you at all
I ain't missin' you
I ain't missin' you
I ain't missin' you
Missin' you
The song "Missing You" by David Wilcox is an emotional ballad about a person who is desperately missing someone who is miles away. The song begins by highlighting the fact that every time the person thinks of the one they miss, they catch their breath, indicating the strong emotions they still have for them. The person is still standing where they are, while their loved one is far away, which adds to their grief. The writer is left wondering why the person left and why they are not coming back.
The chorus contains a strong message that is quite ironic because the writer claims they are not missing the person at all, despite the fact that they spend time thinking about them, mentioning their name in certain circles, and feeling their heart break down the long-distance line. There is also a message that the writer is sending out to the person they miss, indicating that they are desperate to bridge the distance and stop the heartbreak overload.
Overall, this song portrays the pain of longing for someone far away, the desperation to be with them, and the attempt to cope with the heartbreak of their absence. The message is that even though we may pretend we are not missing someone, the truth is we cannot deny our emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
Every time I think of you
Whenever you come into my mind
I always catch my breath
I get emotionally overwhelmed just at the thought of you
And I'm still standing here
I'm still waiting for you to come back
And you're miles away
You are far from me physically and emotionally
And I'm wondering why you left
I cannot understand the reason why you chose to leave me
And there's a storm that's ragin'
I'm emotionally devastated and can't think straight
Through my frozen heart tonight
I'm feeling cold and numb, like I can't experience emotions fully
I hear your name in certain circles
I sometimes hear about you from others
And it always makes me smile
Just the thought of you brings joy to my life
I spend my time thinkin' about you
You are constantly on my mind
And it's almost drivin' me wild
Thinking about you so often is making me go crazy
And there's a heart that's breakin'
I'm experiencing severe heartache and sadness
Down this long distance line tonight
This feeling of heartache and distance is affecting me greatly
I ain't missin' you at all
I'm trying to convince myself that I don't miss you
Since you've been gone away
Ever since you left and our connection broke, I have been trying to move on
No matter what I might say
Despite the fact that I say I don't miss you, deep down, I know it's not true
There's a message in the wire
I'm trying to communicate with you through any means possible
And I'm sending you this signal tonight
I'm trying to reach out to you and connect with you emotionally
You don't know how desperate I've become
I'm extremely desperate for you to come back and repair our relationship
And it looks like I'm losin' this fight
Despite my best efforts, it seems like I'm losing this battle to reconnect with you
In your world I have no meaning
You don't value me or our relationship as much as I do
Though I'm trying hard to understand
I'm trying my best to empathize with your perspective and reasoning behind leaving
But it's my heart that's breakin'
Despite my efforts to understand, my heart is still broken and hurting
But there's a message that I'm sending out
I'm still trying to communicate and connect with you on an emotional level
Like a telegraph to your soul
I'm trying to reach out to the deepest part of you, the part that truly knows and understands me
If I can't bridge this distance
If we can't find a way to reconnect and close the emotional distance between us
Stop this heart break overload
The intense heartache is too much for me to bear
I can lie to myself
I can try to convince myself that I don't miss you, but deep down I know it's not true
Missin' you
I'm still hung up on you and longing for you to come back
I ain't missin' you
Despite the heartache and longing, I'm still trying to convince myself that I don't miss you
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Charles Alan Sandford, John Charles Waite, Mark Leonard, Roberto Casini
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind