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In League with Dragons
In league with dragons S

Album

In League With Dragons

Released

April 26, 2019

Length

3:11

Previous Track

"Possum By Night"

Next Track

"Doc Gooden"

In League with Dragons is the sixth song on In League with Dragons. It also appears as the 22nd song on the 2020 live album The Jordan Lake Sessions: Volumes 1 and 2.

Lyrics[]

It's so hard to get revenge 
The human element drags you down 
Lead a solitary life if you can 
Try not to show your face in town 
Let the rumors find such bridges as they may 
Reckon up the variables
Find a way to make it real 
Make a deal
Until my protector comes

It's so hard to be yourself 
When you've already seen the inside 
Try to navigate the turns as best you can 
Headed on down the slide 
Strong friends are where you find them 
People talk all kinds of trash
Never you mind them 
Make it real
Make a deal
Until my protector comes 

Huge wings blotting out the sun
Remembering everyone 

Be so hard to look away 
You've gotta be strong in the face of suffering
Cut a good figure just in case somebody's watching
Even if it ends up meaning nothing 
Let the breezes spread such scandal as they may 
Maybe Boris Vallejo paints the back of your head someday 
Make it real 
You make a deal
Until my protector comes

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

  • "This is the song that ended up becoming the title track of the new album. Which had been sitting in a notebook for a long time, just as a title, waiting to see something happen. And the album was pretty much done, but I had -- I always overwrite by a little extra, just in case, and, uh, and this one came out. And It didn't come out like a big whirlwind of something, it just came -- this mellow kind of groove, with a lyric that I really liked, and then in the final- the album was originally called 'Younger'. And, uh, and I kept gravitating toward this take of this song. Me and Matt played two acoustics live in the booth on this one with Peter and Jon. The core track is live, and, uh, and there was something about it. And I came back to it. It is a song about cutting losses, and it's called 'In League with Dragons'." -- 2019-04-26 - 9:30 Club - Washington, D.C.
  • "This is a song that I feel has universal sentiment. It's about how when you consider the situation with your enemies and yourself and you say well, I hope that someday my dragon protector will come and incinerate them all. And I hope that from my position at the top of the hill, I can see their torment, but not hear it, because that would be a little too much and I'd like to think I've preserved the scrap of decency that I had before I adopted this dragon protector who now stands between me and all those who would do me harm." -- 2019-04-30 - Brooklyn Steel - Brooklyn, NY

Things Referenced in this Song[]

  • Boris Vallejo is an artist known for his sci-fi and fantasy paintings, and particularly for his work in the sword and sorcery genre. He has several paperback book cover credits to his name.
  • The later song Corsican Mastiff Stride references "the long slide", similar to the lyric "headed on down the slide" in this song.

Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]

Videos of this Song[]



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