Battle of the Dragon
 

I am not a big fan of Nick's mid 80s work but this song is the exception. However its the remix of the song that polishes as the gem that it is. Like many of her mid 80s demos, they drag on roaming. This was no exception. The early demos with Petty and the cheap sounding drum machine are not that great. The finished track was supposedly slated for RAL but yanked at the last minute to give to the soundtrack of American Anthem. The Chris Lord-Alge remix turns the song into a fantastic track. I never heard a remix change a song so much before. Her vocal is the same but unlike the fried rasp of her mid 80s RAL tracks, its a great vocal. The music while mostly artificial does not sound cheap. Thank goodness this remix found its way on to Enchanted. When I heard it on Enchanted I was shocked it was taken off RAL. However if you listen to the original track, it does not shine like the remixed version. I wont go as far to say that Chris polished a turd but pretty close. Its a very powerful and moving song that we assume is about fighting drug addiction? My favorite line is "I see myself remaining when all of you are gone"

When she starts the song she decided to go to the other side of the world, I thought of her Petty/Dylan tour in Australia but I think the song had to be written before that. In any event the remix brought this mostly unknown track into one of her better mid 80s songs IMHO.

Agreed on the remix - the drums sound live on that version, whereas on the original I actually thought it was a drum machine.

This song isn't one of my personal favorites, but I recognize its quality and think of it as kind of the last gasp of her most productive writing period - 1975 to 1984.

I don’t think the song is about drug use so much as depression and suicide. The line “well I got the message, stay among the living” always makes me think the person in the song was thinking of killing themself until they got that message (whatever it was). Also the lines “this was not preplanned, but after some calls, I decided to return to the other side of the world” again make me think they were thinking of suicide until they talked to someone on the phone. A dark interpretation perhaps, but ultimately hopeful.

A literal description of how she ended up going on tour with Petty to Australia (the actual other side of the world) "this was not preplanned, but after some calls, I decided to go to the other side of the world"

Chasing the dragon (from urban dictionary)
The act of smoking cocaine on aluminum foil mixed with baking soda and a little bit of water/saliva. Mix it properly over the piece of foil paper then light the bottom. As the smoke flows upward inhale the light smoke using a "cone"(cut off top of a water bottle).

Thank you for the lyric correction. Your interpretation of that particular line makes perfect sense too, except that, as Macfan4life already pointed out, Battle of the Dragon was written and recorded before she went on that tour with Tom Petty.

Just listened to the remix- this song jumps out of the speakers at you- it's amazing in a Sleeping Angel sort of way. Lyrically fantastic with a great arrangement, definitely the high point of an otherwise low period.

The timing is hard to say because so much of RAL was messed up. The album was always being changed. The movie was released in June 1986 while Stevie was on tour. It is possible to have written it intending it for the album but it was too late and given to the movie soundtrack in late 1985 instead. Being that some demos are with Tom also leads towards that theory.
I was not aware of this song until Enchanted. The movie American Anthem was a total bomb at the box office. It grossed only 4.8 million while it took almost 8 million to make.

This was back in the days when we were forced to buy a whole album for one song. Of course I bought it the day it was released and have loved this song from the moment I heard it, and to me it has totally stood the test of time.

Yes Viv!!! I remember buying the whole album for this song, and Against All Odds soundtrack for Violet & Blue.
Also, the rock stations in Denver actually played Battle Of The Dragon on the radio a little bit. This was back in the day when even a slightly weird song od Stevie's could get attention and airplay.

Battle of the Dragon ... really very fine ... really, really nice but strange little song. Strange little dragon ... pale shadow. Pentatonic and whatnot.

Not to mention the big single from that soundtrack- Take It Easy! On Yourself! Take It Easy! When there ain’t no one else!

Chris Lord-Alge did a great job improving many of her tracks. "Battle of the Dragon" and "Sleeping Angel" are among his best remixes for her.

The drum track has always been problematic in Stevie's solo work. Many of the completed tracks ended sounding unfinished because of those cheap-sounding drum machines, like some tracks on The Wild Heart ("Nightbird," "Stand Back") and most of The Other Side of the Mirror. I would love to hear Chris remix both of these albums.