Nonesuch Records Inc. - Taming the Dragon lyrics

[Narration by Brad Melhdau] Verse 1: I had this trippy dream were this cat was driving me around in an old convertible the whole time around L.A. Later on it turned into a VW van and near the end it was more like this spaceship kind of thing, and were high up looking over the road, but the front console was shaped like a van and it still had the convertible top. The guy who was driving me around was an older dude - an old hipster with a scratchy voice kind of like Joe Walsh sings, but he kind of had some of that vibe and energy of Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider. Yeah, like if you can imagine a cross between Joe Walsh and Dennis Hopper - that's the dude who was driving me Verse 2: We were heading due north on the PCH, coming up to the big stoplight where Sunset Boulevard ends, and were gonna head out past there toward Malibu, maybe circle up through Topanga Canyon and come back through the valley. The light was beautiful in the dream, with all that nice washed-out orange from the pollution. So I had this happy feeling in my stomach but also like this scared feeling like something gonna happen but I didn't know what. Anyhow, as we approaching the light at Sunset, all of a sudden this cat in a sports car came out of nowhere and just cut us off. My man slammed on the brakes and narrowly averted a mash-up. It got my blood boiling, but you know, I wasn't the one driving Verse 3: Yeah, so wouldn't you know it, we pulled right up behind that motherf**er at the light and there he was glaring at us through his rear view; he was all like 'Yeah that's right I cut you off, what are you going to do about it?'. So I said to Joe Walsh-slash-Dennis Hopper - I'll just call him Joe now - so I said to Joe ''Man, aren't you gonna say some sh** to that douchebag?''. I was all puffed up and pissed off, but I was sitting in the pa**enger seat. So Joe was quiet and looked straight ahead and said ''You know, man, the only way I'm gonna put some sh** out there like that is if I'm ready to dance with that cat. You know what I mean? 'All you've got are your actions, man - and don't forget, your words are you actions too. You put something out there, there's consequences, you know? You wanna dance with that dude?" Verse 4: You know, now I realize that Joe was driving me around everywhere and it's like I wasn't even thanking him. I realize that at first I thought he was kind of wild and a bad influence on me, like from my party days, but actually the whole time he kind of like driving me around and taking care of me, watching my back, like the crazy dude in the small car, like how he actually handled that while thing real noble and didn't get all ruffled. He was talking me down from something. I only realized that when I woke up Verse 5: It's funny how sometimes with dreams you don't realize who's your friend until after you wake up. Then when you wake up you get this clarity and you see that maybe all these different people were you in the dream and that they're there to lead you to either good or trouble. And the person who's actually acting as you in the dream is kind of like this blind idiot who's just barreling through the whole dream, like I was, trying to be all tough and sh**, telling old Joe to go start something with that punk in the sports car Yeah, but maybe like that crazy dude in the other car was me as well - all those people are just composite of my own sh**, all the different parts of me - like you've got this one part of you that watches out for you and keeps you steady, you've got this other part that's raging and full of anger, and those two are vying for your attention, like old Joe and the crazy dude in the dream, and then there's just you and you're listening to both of those voices. But they're all a part of you You know, I think of it like taming a dragon. The dragon is the crazy dude and if you don't watch out he'll bite your a** hard. So you need old Joe there to set you straight. But Joe knows about the dragon, because Joe and the dragon are a part of you. So don't try to k** the dragon - you know, the dragon's where you get all that voodoo sh** from, that's where you get your power from. You don't want to snuff him out, you wanna tame him, you wanna actually make friends with him and harness his power so you can use it...