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.
New World
David Wilcox Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We sleep inside this curl
And after how alone we've been
It's like a whole new world
My heart had felt like years at sea
Freezing and afraid
Breathe the life back into me
Chorus:
New world - big horizon
Open your eyes and see it's true
New world - across the frightening
Waves of blue
The old world had attractions
But hunger in my soul
Resumes and power plays
Where lust was just control
Roll me over slowly
Warm, sun-baked sand
The ocean of my loneliness
Has carried me to land
Chorus
New world - sun is rising
We were wise just to see it through
The new world second chance
For me, second chance for you
A mile or more of shoreline
And no one else around
And the way my heart is pounding now
I feel as if we've found
a new world.
In the first verse of David Wilcox's song "New World," he describes the intimacy and relief of being close to someone after feeling alone for a long time. The second verse goes on to explain the emotional state Wilcox was in before discovering this new world. He felt lost and afraid, but the person he is with was able to bring him back to life. The chorus describes this new world as having a big horizon, full of possibilities and beauty.
The old world, as described in the third verse, was full of temptations and power struggles that left Wilcox feeling empty. But this new world, as he sings in the fourth verse, is peaceful and quiet. He and his partner are alone on the shoreline, reveling in the natural beauty surrounding them. The song ends with Wilcox describing the intensity of his feelings, as if he has discovered something completely new.
Overall, "New World" is a song about finding hope and love after feeling lost and alone. Wilcox's lyrics are emotional and powerful, and his descriptions of the natural world are beautiful.
Line by Line Meaning
I wrap around you skin to skin
I hold onto you tightly, as close as possible, feeling the warmth of our bodies touching
We sleep inside this curl
We are wrapped up together in a comfortable position like the way waves curl up into themselves
And after how alone we've been
After feeling loneliness for so long
It's like a whole new world
Being together feels new and exciting
My heart had felt like years at sea
My heart felt like it's been on a long and tiring journey at sea for a long time now
Freezing and afraid
Cold and scared
Breathe the life back into me
Bring me back to life
Kiss me warm that way
Kiss me with warmth and comfort
New world - big horizon
The world feels new with broad opportunities ahead
Open your eyes and see it's true
Open your eyes to these opportunities and see they are real
New world - across the frightening
Even though it's scary or frightening, we must take these opportunities
Waves of blue
Reference to the ocean, which can be both beautiful and scary
The old world had attractions
Old world had its virtues and attractions
But hunger in my soul
Still, my soul yearned for something more
Resumes and power plays
Life was a series of resumes and power struggle
Where lust was just control
Lust and power had a way of controlling everything
Roll me over slowly
Turn me over gently and slowly with care
Warm, sun-baked sand
Feeling the warmth of the sun on the sand
The ocean of my loneliness
My loneliness felt like an overwhelming ocean
Has carried me to land
You brought me to safety and to calmness
New world - sun is rising
There is hope and new starts everyday as the sun rises
We were wise just to see it through
We were wise to see through the tough times
The new world second chance
The new world is a second chance
For me, second chance for you
We both get a second chance to be together now
A mile or more of shoreline
Being away somewhere isolated
And no one else around
And being alone together feeling safe
And the way my heart is pounding now
A strong emotional moment felt in the heart
I feel as if we've found
I feel like we have achieved our goal and found what we were looking for
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DAVID PATRICK WILCOX
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind