In League with Dragons¹

Title: In League with Dragons
Released: 2019
Label: Merge Records

Liner Notes

(inside of CD wallet):

To those who make bold to wander beyond the homely confines of the Shire, seeking the ruin of noble dragons, a word of warning:
few have luck, all have death.

(end of lyric booklet):

Dedicated to the dragons of the western dusk, and of the northern range;
to the dragons of the southern stream, and of the eastern dawn;
to the dragons who guard the breathing jewels, as well as those who menace the forlorn village;
to the dragons of the flashing skies, where all is possible,
and to the dragons of restless waters, where all is uncertain;
to those dragons whose lairs lie hidden, and to those whose lairs are no more;
and, finally, to those dragons, advanced in age, rich in the twilight of their knowledge;
those ones whose scales yet gleam in shades of purple and green where they laze by firelight,
awaiting the time when they must stir their sleeping limbs and rise, their throats full of fire,
into the inevitable sky.

Done Bleeding
Younger
Passaic 1975
Clemency for the Wizard King
Possum by Night
In League with Dragons
Doc Gooden
Going Invisible 2
Waylon Jennings Live!
Cadaver Sniffing Dog
An Antidote for Strychnine
Sicilian Crest

Album Credits
Footnotes

Done Bleeding

Recite the songs that kept me whole
On the day I hand over command-control
Try to let them all flow into this one
List alphabetically
The toxins the doctors found in me
During my time in prison

Count my fingers, every last one
When I get done

Clean the floors well, sweep and swab
Do a thorough job
Leave the old place nicer than I found it
Wish well as the neighbors cheer and shout
Finally taking their earplugs out
Things were even worse here than they sounded

Grim faced pilots back from the bombing run
When I get done

Take a picture or two
Just to remember the view
Leave a mark on the door
As an empty warning sign from one who's gone before
But isn't here any more

Let the crust form on my skin in the sun
When I get done

Sweep the front porch, make it new
Put the broom away when I get through
No passers-by need to know of my lonely tenure
All this riot of light, the shock of leaves
Wind rippling in my sleeves
Swirling against my skin as in a blender

Red thread drying behind me, hand-spun
When I get done

Younger²³

Crank that siren high
Drain the wellspring dry
Map out your coordinates
Send out scouts by day
Dole out mercenary pay
For restless young subordinates

It never hurts to give thanks to the local gods
You never know who might be hungry
It never hurts to scan the windows on the upper floor
I saw a face there once before⁴
When I was younger

Set the torch aflame
Call the night by name
Stake out your dark position⁵
Lie in wait
By the gleaming city gate
Try not to lose sight of the mission

It never hurts to give thanks to the broken bones
You had to use to build your ladder
Moment close at hand
Half of you will never understand
And it doesn’t really matter

Big smile on my face
Capsule just in case
Underneath my tongue there
Voices on the breeze
I heard voices once like these
When I was younger

Blood rushing to my face
I know that sweet warm taste
And the bitter trace

Storm right down that hill
If I don’t no one will
Follow me right through the chaos
This whole house is doomed
Even the bit-parts get consumed
Prepare a grave for Menelaus⁶
It never hurts to give thanks to the navigator
Even when he’s spitting out random numbers
I knew what those figures meant
And what they hoped to represent
When I was younger

Passaic 1975

Write something down in illegible script
As we're approaching the landing strip
New Gibson SG, inlaid with pearl
Tonight Passaic, tomorrow the world

In a Holiday Inn by a nameless river
Renew the assault on my lungs and my liver
And while I'm waiting for the company man
Slip on my kimono that I bought in Japan

Tell the crowd, tell the world
I want everyone to get high
Tell the press, tell the cameras
I want everyone to get high

And the tech crew in Memphis has a present for me
A screen that scrolls lyrics
Like the ones they have on TV
The deluxe model, one of only four thousand made
Black out that night in front of ten thousand paid

And in the back lounge, in between the stops
Contingency plans in case the new one flops
Sometimes I wake up coughing up blood
Tonight Indianapolis, tomorrow the flood

Tell the person next to you
I want everyone to get high
Tell your boss, tell your mother
I want everyone to get high

Clemency for the Wizard King

We who train in the way of the blade
We who sleep in the accursed glade
We come before you now
We come before you now

We who in his favor would stand
Who lovingly await his most fearsome command
We come before you now
We come before you now

Cut loose the handcuffs
Let him go free

We who travel by starlight
We who slipped past your guards in the night
We come before you now
We come before you now

We who boldly lay claim to our own
We who have seen the chamber of the one true throne

We who have seen the kindness of the cracks of his face
We who will die if we must in this place
We come before you, outnumbered and unafraid
Well-trained in the way of the blade

Cut loose the handcuffs
Let him go free

Possum by Night

When the house lights all go dark
Shuffle on down to the park
Spent stars in the winter sky
Days of refuge in short supply

All you parasites climb aboard!
All you vagabonds, praise the Lord!

When the compost pile grows high
Climb to the top if I try
Long haul truckers still wide awake
Guard their pathways for Jesus' sake

All you garbage trucks to the curb!
True sons of the Living Word!

Try not to get stuck in the intake vent
Grow fat & grow old & go blind & be content

All your pack dogs, have your say
Let me just find my own way
Moon in the trees my guide
Walk with my jaw hinged wide

Once more unto the breach!⁷
Safe in the spots that the light can't reach

In League with Dragons

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
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
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 someday⁸
Make it real
Make a deal
Until my protector comes

Doc Gooden⁹

Wheels down in Seattle
Three years ago in this town
They sent their best and brightest to me
I sent them all back down

Deluxe coach to the ballpark
There's champagne on the snack trays
Summon up the spirit of a brighter time
Looked bad last week against the Blue Jays

When my name was everywhere,
None of you were there
When my name was everywhere

Potholes in the parking lot
You feel the jolts a little harder every year
The bat boy hands out yellow slickers
It never stops raining out here

When my name was everywhere,
None of you were there
When my name was everywhere

When the speedball would squeal
With the highlight reel
When the headline hype
Was on the front page in extra-large type
It was me
For all the world to see

Don’t call it a comeback
I've been here for years¹⁰
Maximum respect to all the warriors
Who choose to fall down on their spears

When my name was everywhere,
None of you were there
When my name was everywhere

Going Invisible 2

Look in the cellar where the cinders blaze
Sift through the shadows for days
Look in the corners but you can't see me
You can't see me, I'm free

I'm going to burn it all down today, down today OK
I'm going to burn it all down today and sweep all the ashes away

Count up the keepsakes in the cabinets
The keyboards and the chemistry sets
Look in the attic where the blinds are drawn
You won't find me, I'm gone

I'm going to burn it all down today, down today OK
I'm going to burn it all down today and sweep all the ashes away

Etch an outline on your heart
I'm going to blow the whole circus apart
Reckon the remnants when they land at last
The shattered aftermath of the blast
Look for me everywhere the burn marks form
Trying to find a place to keep warm

I'm going to burn it all down today, down today OK
I'm going to burn it all down today and sweep all the ashes away

I'm going to burn it all down today, down today OK
I'm going to burn it all down today and sweep all the ashes away

Waylon Jennings Live!¹¹

Drunk at the Meskwaki casino
Right where God intended me to be
Looking up at the one man in this room
Who's handled more cocaine than me
Think back on the good times just an hour or so ago
Before I got myself this drunk
When the valet parked my rented Mitsubishi
With the beat-up old brown suitcase in the trunk

Full of firearms and flash drives
Full of passports
And international money orders
For just in case I make it 'cross the border

Get a postcard from the gift shop
Let my family know I'm doing fine
Looking up at a map up on the ceiling
To find the place where we all meet up further on down the line
Head back to my table
Get another scotch & soda for the road
The band on stage is really working up a head of steam
Close my eyes and lean my head back,
Dream a little dream

Full of firearms and flash drives
Full of passports
And international money orders
For just in case I make it 'cross the border

Cadaver Sniffing Dog

Hustle up the spiral stairs
See if anyone’s left up there
Teams on the scene from several stations
Everybody adjust your expectations
Stray clumps of hair and blood and brain
Fragments of bone in the drain
Rookies trying to keep the airway clear
But the damage is too severe

Bring in the cadaver sniffing dog
Bring in the cadaver sniffing dog
Bring in the cadaver sniffing dog
Bring in the cadaver sniffing dog

Army crawlers down ash-wet floor
Ready for war
Veterans on their hands and knees
Nobody's ready for days like these
Wait 'til you come up on the smoking wreck
And even then, you check
Radio home, all clean
If there were any survivors they've fled the scene

Bring in the cadaver sniffing dog
Bring in the cadaver sniffing dog
Bring in the cadaver sniffing dog
Bring in the cadaver sniffing dog

An Antidote for Strychnine

Dig around in the garbage
Save up some halibut bones in a jar
Scrape a winter's worth of salt deposits
From the rusty frame of my car
Ask the experts, maybe they'll know

Call up my teacher in Cambridge
See what he remembers
Throw white phosphorus in the fireplace
Look for clues in the embers
Call the hotline, give them a phony last name

Trying to find an antidote for strychnine

Time's running short
Always seems to run shorter
Have some supplies sent
From up just past the northern border
Keep a line out to the people who take the long view

Only share my research
With sick lab rats like me
Trapped behind the beakers and the Erlenmeyer flasks
Cut off from the world, I may not ever get free
But I may, one day

Trying to find an antidote for strychnine

So many suffering from the same affliction
Coming up on a breakthrough
Clock's ticking

Dig down amongst my calculations
Check my math
Up there on the surface
Everybody's getting ready for the bloodbath
Stem the tide
They're calling down for reinforcements

Trying to find an antidote for strychnine

Sicilian Crest

In these times of wanting prophecy
And false witnesses up to all manner of deviltry
Drench a kitchen rag in heretics' blood
Wash your windows and prepare for the flood

Look to the west
Look to the man bearing the Sicilian crest

Portents in the sky say that the time is near
Dial into the signal coming in loud and clear
Sacrificial victims out of the cage
Smiling as they're taking the stage

Look to the west
Look to the man bearing the Sicilian crest

Out of the blue, everything’s new
All the talk we heard was true
The legends we all heard once
The whispers from the storefronts

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst
We wait like stockpiled landmines, ready to burst
Wait all your life to see what you see
Open up your eyes and be free

Look to the west
Look to the man bearing the Sicilian crest

Album Credits

Jon Wurster - drums & percussion
Peter Hughes - bass
Matt Douglas - woodwinds, guitars, vocals
John Darnielle - guitars, vocals
Thom Gill - guitars
Johnny Spence - organ, Memorymoog, piano, Wurlitzer, synth
Bram Gielen - guitars, piano, synth
Owen Pallett - piano, organ, guitar

Dan Dugmore - pedal steel on "In League with Dragons"

Vocal arrangements on "Younger," "In League with Dragons," "Waylon Jennings Live!" and "Cadaver Sniffing Dog" by Robert Bailey, performed by Robert Bailey, Everett Drake, Jason Eskridge, and Michael Mishaw

Strings arranged by Owen Pallett, performed by the Macedonian Radio Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Oleg Kondratenko, engineered by Giorgi Hristovski, with Atanas Babaleski

Produced by Owen Pallett
Engineered by Matt Ross-Spang
Assisted by Lowell Reynolds
Mixed by Shani Ghandi at Gates Avenue
Recorded at Blackbird Studios, Nashville, Tennessee
Mastered by Brent Lambert at The Kitchen Mastering, Carrboro, North Carolina

Artwork by Elton D'Souza
Design by Daniel Murphy

All words & music by John Darnielle
© 2019 Cadmean Dawn (ASCAP) administered worldwide by Pacific Electric Music Publishing

Footnotes

The second season of the pocast I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, hosted by John Darnielle and Joseph Fink, is about this album, with each episode focusing on one song. ↩

Younger contains several references to older Mountain Goats songs, some of which are poined out in these footnotes and some of which are left for the reader to discover. John has confirmed this on Twitter. ↩

The guitar riff and bass line of "Younger" are a callback to "No, I Can't" (specifically, the version from the EP Songs for Peter Hughes). John has confirmed this on Twitter. ↩

Possibly a reference to the lyrics "And look up at the high windows / And see your face up there" from "Get Lonely." ↩

Possibly a reference to the lyrics "Stake out your position / Let your armor fall" from "Outer Scorpion Squadron." ↩

Menelaus was the mythological king of Sparta in the Iliad and the Odyssey. ↩

"Once more unto the breach" is a quotation from Shakespeare's Henry V, Act III, Scene I. ↩

Boris Vallejo is a Peruvian-American painter known for sci-fi and fantasy work. ↩

Dwight "Doc" Gooden was a pitcher who played the majority of his professional career with the New York Mets. His early years were very successful (winning the NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards in his first and second seasons, respectively) but his career declined as he struggled with addiction. ↩

These two lines, "Don't call it a comeback / I've been here for years," are identical to the first line of the song "Mama Said Knock You Out" by LL Cool J. ↩

Waylon Jennings was a country musician. He was a leading figure in early outlaw country and was a member of the supergroup the Highwaymen. ↩

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