"Battle of the Dragon" Appreciation Thread

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by The Tower

If anyone out there is considering suicide, you need only listen to this song to regain your resolve to live- to battle- to survive.

I always tell people that this song saved my life. And it really did.

"I can... and I will... go on...."

[ELIUD]

I thought this song was her homage to Viet Nam vets and their spouses. Wasn't it a Rock A Little outtake? Yes I love it. Love the overlaying of vocals eventhough it makes it hard to sing along with it.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by ELIUD

I thought this song was her homage to Viet Nam vets and their spouses. Wasn't it a Rock A Little outtake? Yes I love it. Love the overlaying of vocals eventhough it makes it hard to sing along with it.

Your banner and you rule!

Also - was that your own personal feathered hat on her head

[Miss Vicky]

Absolutely one of my favorite Stevie songs. Probably #2 behind the demo version of "Planets of the Universe."

[ELIUD]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Your banner and you rule!

Also - was that your own personal feathered hat on her head

I wish it was. It would go well with my glittery t-back thong that I wear when lounging.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by ELIUD

I wish it was. It would go well with my glittery t-back thong that I wear when lounging.

Please PM me a pic!!!!!!!!

Actully, if I remember correctly from Tracy's board, you are quite clever with a hot glue gun!

[vermicious knid]

As far as the interpretation of this song, I am just going to copy a portion of what someone wrote at buckinghamnicks.net. Reading this interpretation made all the pieces come together for me.

ED speculates:

I have always found this lost gem to be one of the most haunting, harrowing, tortuous songs Stevie has ever written, so I was surprised to read the speculations posted about this song. I am not saying those speculations are invalid, but I've had such a fixed concept in my mind all of these years.

The "Dragon" is her addiction to drugs.

I do recall that the song was released on the "American Anthem" Soundtrack in the summer of 1986 during the drug-addled "Rock a Little" tour. So obviously she was still in the thick of her problem
when she wrote and recorded this song. But I suspect she must have had some kind of a shock or reality check that made her confront her "dragon" with brutal honesty on this song. She seems to have written this song in the future-tense, with the voice of someone who has found some degree of closure with the "dragon."

"No one walks away from this battle... the power... so strong... keep that fury deep inside and wish it to end... and when your friends start asking you why, you just say nothing." Here she paints drug addiction as an extremely difficult, extremely personal battle that, despite all the best intentions of friends (or so-called friends??), she must kick alone, even if it means plastering on a smile despite the turmoil beneath the surface.

In kicking (or hoping to kick) her drug addiction, she has taken on an angry, yet somber, but bitter tone against her musical idols. She makes veiled references to her predecessors- Jimi, Jim, Janis- who all succumbed to the "Dragon" in lines like "The beautiful and the sensitive and the oh so very young... We are adapting to your silence, I can live
here without you... but I cannot live without your songs." She is strong in her resolve to not become yet another rock-n-roll statistic in brazen lines like "I see myself remaining when all of you are gone." and "When this battle is over... I will survive."

If I had my way, Battle of the Dragon not only would have been on Rock a Little, but it would have been the first single from the album.

[ELIUD]

Originally Posted by strand

Please PM me a pic!!!!!!!!

i was kidding dude, but I'm not opposed wearing such things if I had one. However, sending pics? Hmm, not so sure about that.

[sodascouts]

A magnificent song, one of the most powerful that she's ever done. My favorite part is the way she sings "And when your friends start asking you why, you just PRETEND, DON'T say NOTHING!" That song gives me chills. It's amazing.

[wheart]

This song is in my Top Ten Stevie Songs! Love it! The music, the lyrics, the vocal...all top form! I especially love the background and layered vocals with Sharon and Lori.

[wheart]

Originally Posted by vermicious knid

As far as the interpretation of this song, I am just going to copy a portion of what someone wrote at buckinghamnicks.net. Reading this interpretation made all the pieces come together for me.



If I had my way, Battle of the Dragon not only would have been on Rock a Little, but it would have been the first single from the album.

VERY INTERESTING!! I never knew exactly when BOTD was released. Every time I listened to that song I always assumed it was recorded AFTER she came out of Betty Ford due to the subject matter of the song...namely getting off drugs. It fascinates me that she did indeed write it in the future tense. I think Stevie has always had this ability to "see into the future" a little bit. Gold Dust Woman is a good example of this. She is ultimately wirting, in part, about the person she was going to become but hadn't yet. I also believe that she probably knew she had a major problem with coke a long time before she did anything about it. And that knowledge, with perhaps the inability to do anything about it, is at the core of this song and what makes this song so very powerful.

[jean-mariecowl]

that song is my favorite stevie song. cause i can totally relate to it. and all the anger and pain you feel is just shouted out in that song. feel the anger and you shout it and they you go HA! thats how i feel all the time.