I’m starting a blog about songwriting and posting my songs on the internet for the whole world to hear. For me, this is pretty weird. I’ve always been a private person, especially when it comes to my songs.
But then I wrote this song:
Dragon's Song (lyrics)
Don’t follow my trail
Don’t climb my mountain
And certainly don’t come anywhere near my cave
Don’t mount your white steed
Don’t draw your broadsword
And certainly don’t try anything noble or brave
I’ve got treasure
I’ve got piles and rivers
Of crystals and jewels, gemstones and spools
Of spun gold so brilliant it makes me cry
And I pledge to protect it until I die
Yes I can smile
I’d rather bare canines
Beat leathery wings and glower with glowing eyes
Yes I can speak
I’d rather blow smoke rings
Spit embers and ash at all who pass my prizes
I’ve got treasure
I’ve got piles and rivers
Of crystals and jewels, gemstones and spools
Of spun gold so brilliant it makes me cry
And I pledge to protect it until I die
I’m nobody’s friend
Nobody’s magic dragon
I fight off you thieves with tooth, fire, and claw
I wait in the dark
I snuff the lamps and candles
Stand guard in my doorway until the daylight withdraws
For my treasure
When the light leaks in is
Monopoly deeds, Mardi Gras beads
Adjustable rings from the vending machine
And that’s not how I’ll have my hoard seen
That’s not how I will be seen
I’m a terror
I’m a loaded killer
And I’m to be feared, to be revered
The poets and bards will write ballads for me
And everyone’s jealous of me
Everyone’s jealous of me
All you mere mortals are jealous of me!
You might think “Dragon’s Song” is a straightforward story about a dragon (or maybe a metaphoric portrait of a particularly self-satisfied and stingy frenemy). But the truth is far scarier:
The dragon is me! (Oh noes!)
I wrote “Dragon’s Song” about myself and my songwriting. I’ve wanted to be a singer/songwriter since kindergarten, and I’ve been writing seriously since I was fourteen. But for years, I wrote in almost complete secrecy. I was terrified that if I let people listen to my music, no one (not even one person!) would like it. Then, I’d have to accept that I’d written trash, not treasure. So I lived like a dragon: hoarding my songs and fiercely guarding them against listeners who might challenge their awesomeness.
After writing “Dragon’s Song,” I knew I had to de-dragon and move the treasure out of the cave. I had to start working to get my music heard. But when putting any creative project out into the world, some amount of rejection is inevitable. It’s easy to get scared and demoralized by this rejection, then revert to hoarding. But I am determined not to be a dragon, so whenever I feel tempted to crawl back into the cave, I remind myself of two things:
1. Hoarding is bad!
If we’re talking about material things, this is pretty obvious. If you never give anything away, eventually your house fills up with stuff and you have no space to live. You can’t possibly use all your possessions, so items that used to be functional lose their purpose and become junk.
I think it’s similarly dysfunctional to hoard intangible things like music. Songs are meant to be expressive and communicative, so they’re not fulfilling their purpose if they’re not shared. If I keep all my songs to myself, then they’re nothing but junk taking up space in my head and on my hard drive.
2. One person’s treasure, is another person’s trash.
The sad truth is, not everyone will like my songs. In fact, you probably won’t like my songs if you:
- don’t like intellectual topics
- can’t stand complex emotions or dark subject matter
- hate animals and nature
But I know there are people who think my music is pretty great. And as long as those people exist (even if they’re a teensy weensy group), it’s not right to keep my songs to myself.
And that’s why I’m sharing my music with you! You can listen to my songs any time in the songs and lyrics page. If you’d like, go listen now! Then come back to this post and leave a comment telling me which song is your favorite.
Thanks for reading and listening! I’ll be back with a new post next week!
by 
