Taming The Dragon

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

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

Yeah, so wouldn't you know it

We pulled right up behind that motherfucker 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 shit to that douchebag?

I was all puffed up and pissed off

But I was sitting in the passenger seat

So Joe was quiet and looked straight ahead and said

You know, man, the only way I'm gonna put some shit 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 your actions too

You put something out there, there's consequences, you know?

You wanna dance with that dude?

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

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 shit

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 shit

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 ass 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 kill the dragon - you know

The dragon's where you get all that voodoo

Shit 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