"David Wilcox writes the best lyrics I have ever heard!" Thus spoke my E.O. (eclectic obsessive) friend, Mike Logback, some years back. I should explain the E.O., I suppose. Mike is blessed with a wide range of interests and talents, but he tends to get "highly focused" on only one at a time. There have been many phases...the Rodeo Phase, the Tail Dragger Phase (1st airplane), the Metal Artist Phase, the Guitar Phase, the Build-Your-Own Experimental Phase (2nd airplane) and likely many more that I am not privy to. Suffice it to say, whatever Mike does, he does with passion and total immersion.

Anyway, Mike was in his Guitar Phase at the time and spent most of his spare time, of which he has a multitude, playing and listening to music. I had no reason to doubt his judgement and bought myself a Wilcox CD and liked what I heard (although I wasn't yet ready to declare Wilcox the best I'd ever heard). I particularly liked a driving ditty by the name of "Eye of the Hurricane". The more I listened to David Wilcox's music/lyrics, the more I came to appreciate Mike's opinion.

Sometime later, I bought a two-disc DVD "David Wilcox: Live at the Workplay Theater" and became an unabashed fan. Wilcox is indeed a gifted lyricist and storyteller, but it goes much deeper than that. He is a thoughtful observer with an eye for relationships and the ability to invite/welcome the listener into insights he has been granted.

So my thanks go out to Mike and I pass on the word of encouragement to you to give a listen. The lyrics to one of my favorite Wilcox songs follows! Enjoy!

Show the Way
You say you see no hope, you say you see no reason
We should dream that the world would ever change
You're saying love is foolish to believe
'Cause there'll always be some crazy with an Army or a Knife
To wake you from your day dream, put the fear back in your life...

Look, if someone wrote a play just to glorify
What's stronger than hate, would they not arrange the stage
To look as if the hero came too late he's almost in defeat
It's looking like the Evil side will win, so on the
Edge of every seat, from the moment that the whole thing begins
It is...

(Chorus)
Love who makes the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play...
For in this darkness love can show the way

So now the stage is set.
Feel you own heart beating
In your chest.
This life's not over yet.
So we get up on our feet and do our best.
We play against theFear.
We play against the reasons not to try
We're playing for the tears burning in the happy angel's eyes
For it's...

Love who makes the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play...
So in this darkness love can show the way

David Wilcox