David Wilcox – Burgundy Heart Shaped Medallion & Four Lane Dance

Over 15 years ago I first heard of David Wilcox and bought 2 of his CDs. Many of his songs ‘spoke’ to me at that time and have since, something about his lyrics and way of thinking meshes with mine. As it turns out he even attended Antioch College in 1976, but I’ve talked about this in an earlier post.

The purpose of this entry is to highlight the lyrics to one short song he wrote and another poem (Which I believe is unreleased) that I have found useful to quote & send these to friends over the years. We all battle with self-image and over-self-analysis and criticism, but it drives me nuts when friends start insulting themselves or undersell their amazing abilities. It also drives me nuts to see people ‘tread water’, where they aren’t moving forward they are just staying in one place in life, not challenging themselves, just ‘floating’… waiting for a sign or something. Well.. to quote the comedy routine of the 90’s, “HERE’S YOUR SIGN!” 🙂

I’ve already sent these to many friends who I felt ‘needed’ them, but this is a pre-emptive strike for the rest of you; “You rock! I and many others are in sheer awe of your amazing self, so drop the self pity, shake the dust off your shoulders, stand tall and go make a difference. You CAN do it! What are you waiting for? GO GO GO!”

Burgundy Heart Shaped Medallion

    If I had a spell of magic
    I would make this enchantment for you
    A burgundy heart-shaped medallion
    With a window that you could look through
    So that when all the mirrors are angry
    With your faults and all you must do
    You could peek through that heart-shaped medallion
    And see you from my point of view

– © David Wilcox on his ‘How Did You Find Me Here?’ album


Four Lane Dance

    The driver right in front of me is making a mistake
    He’s stopping on the entrace ramp, waiting for his break
    The more he hits his break, the bigger break he’s going to need
    When a little break is plenty if he’d just been up to speed

    So I say move and you’ll have your place
    Don’t sit waiting on the human race
    Just go, you got your chance
    You can’t be timid in the four-lane dance

    Oh and now he’s got it parked there and he’s looking back behind
    Pleading out the window, hoping someone might be kind enough
    To stop and wait and hold the traffic flow
    And still he’s not quite confident there’s room for him to go

    So I say move and you’ll have your place
    Don’t sit waiting on the human race
    Just go, you got your chance
    You can’t be timid in the four-lane dance

    The freeway’s just a lesson in the way you drive your dream
    If you think you’ll never make it, well than that’s the way it seems
    But if you thought that it’d be easy, well then easy it wouldbe
    Why just a foot between the bumpers has been room enough for me

    So I say move and you’ll have your place
    Don’t sit waiting on the human race
    Just go, you got your chance
    You can’t be timid in the four-lane dance

– © David Wilcox, unreleased.