'Hard Headed Heart' by Gavin Adcock – Lyrics & Meaning

The name of Gavin Adcock's new studio album, Own Worst Enemy, says it all, but no song encapsulates that self-sabotaging descriptor quite like the collection's 'Hard Headed Heart.'

A song about standing in the way of your own happiness, 'Hard Headed Heart' is one of the many self-destructive tunes that appear across the record. Own Worst Enemy does a fine job of capturing the rowdy entertainer at this point in his life and career, deftly documenting the clarity that comes from years spent in full gear.

"Over the last 4 years I’ve spent my life writing, traveling, and trying to find time to breathe," the artist shared of the release in a post on social media. "It doesn’t always add up on paper like it would seem, but through the happiness, hard times and self destruction I’ve found the best part of my job is letting out music for my fans. I can’t thank y’all enough for sticking with me for this long. I’m the furthest thing from perfect and I don’t ever plan to be."

Here, we're delving into one of the collection's most self-aware tracks.

'Hard Headed Heart' is one of the album’s few fully acoustic offerings, the song subdued and set to simmer in order to allow the emotion to come through clearly. Shuddering strums and crisp strings make up much of this number, allowing Adcock to say his piece away from the distracting drum hits and deflecting electrics.

"By now you're as gone as the patio smoke I'm blowin'
And there's a pill that ain't goin' down like this Jack I'm pourin'
Go to hell, don't call, yeah I remember what you said to me
But them words just fall like a seed gettin' sown in the concrete"

A pattern appears throughout Own Worst Enemy as Adcock continually refuses to get out of his own way. In many of these songs, a self-destructive personality tends to crop up, keeping him from finding love or forging ahead. 'Hard Headed Heart' is no different, finding Adcock once again shooting himself in the foot due to his own obstinance.

As they often do, this song opens with him being deserted by a partner and left to mull over what went wrong. Surprise, surprise, he had a hand in things going sideways.

"This hard-headed heart won't budge or break
Shoots up the whiskey like novocaine
Holds onto you like it grips the grudge
Left alone and just self-destructs
Short fuse and the bridge gets burned
The world around it gets flipped the bird
And I keep on gettin' what I deserve
Hard-headed heart, don't wanna learn"

He blames the break on his “hard-headed heart”, and like in his song ‘Outside Dog’, he looks to his own stubbornness and unwillingness to change as the main culprit. While these willful qualities can present as admirable, it’s when they turn into pigheadedness that things tend to go awry.

He sings of self-destruction and short fuses, as well as the need to burn bridges and write off the rest of the world, adding “And I keep on gettin' what I deserve Hard-headed heart, don't wanna learn.”

"This hard-headed heart won't budge or break
Shoots up the whiskey like novocaine
Holds onto you like it grips the grudge
Left alone and just self-destructs
Short fuse and the bridge gets burned
The world around it gets flipped the bird
And I keep on gettin' what I deserve
Hard-headed heart, don't wanna learn
Don't wanna learn"

By now you're as gone as the patio smoke I'm blowin'
And there's a pill that ain't goin' down like this Jack I'm pourin'
Go to hell, don't call, yeah I remember what you said to me
But them words just fall like a seed gettin' sown in the concrete

This hard-headed heart won't budge or break
Shoots up the whiskey like novocaine
Holds onto you like it grips the grudge
Left alone and just self-destructs
Short fuse and the bridge gets burned
The world around it gets flipped the bird
And I keep on gettin' what I deserve
Hard-headed heart, don't wanna learn

Body stubborn as an old Bronco, you wanna crank in the winter
Got a mind of its own, sure as hell don't know when to quit it
Her blue eyes ain't yours, she don't know when I'm lookin' at her
And I should, but I don't
Give a damn about a girl I shattered

This hard-headed heart won't budge or break
Shoots up the whiskey like novocaine
Holds onto you like it grips the grudge
Left alone and just self-destructs
Short fuse and the bridge gets burned
The world around it gets flipped the bird
And I keep on gettin' what I deserve
Hard-headed heart, don't wanna learn
Don't wanna learn

By now you're as gone as the patio smoke I'm blowin'
And there's a pill that ain't goin' down like this Jack I'm pourin'

This hard-headed heart won't budge or break
Shoots up the whiskey like novocaine
Holds onto you like it grips the grudge
Left alone and just self-destructs
Short fuse and the bridge gets burned
The world around it gets flipped the bird
And I keep on gettin' what I deserve
Hard-headed heart, don't wanna learn
Don't wanna learn

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For more on Gavin Adcock, see below: