David Wilcox on songwriting

Hi again. I don't know David Wilcox, and I'm not familiar with his work. But I read an interview with him in The Poughkeepsie Journal (Friday, July 31, 2009) and a lot of things he said resonated with me. Here are some quotes:

I guess my first goal with music is not simply starting with an idea. I love symbol rather than sign. I love music that draws me out into the next stage of what I'm going to become. The writing process has always been a wonderful adventure. I feel something in a piece of music or a phrase and follow that emotion and graduallly craft the song that way. I can write a song that's not about me but about who I might become...

Years ago, the music was the little window I got right in my life. The rest was trying to find that level of purpose and focus and sort of meaning. So through that microcosm of music, I learned the lessons of how to do everything else. It used to be very difficult. It was sort of like someone on a trampoline trying to look over a large hedge. Most of my life was nowhere near approaching the joy or presence I found in my music...

[I first picked up a guitar] when I was 18. At the time, it felt like, here is a joy that is unfamiliar. I just wanted to be around that feeling. Little by little, I started to feel like it wasn't escapist. It was the first clue in a long treasure hunt to find the joy in my life...

[Music matters because] I can get back in touch with my heart and get a glimpse of where someone finds their hope. They take me there. For me, it's a powerful glimpse into someone else's heart, especially when the song is written with that respect for the listener. I'm very grateful there is music. It saved my life.