Singled Out: The Gray Lions

Asked to write about one of my songs for The Gray Lions off the new CD Run Wild, I came up blank! They're all so�me? But "Smaug's Revenge" is one of my oldest friends amongst them, written in the mid-seventies while in college. It's a ballad in the truest sense - a story song.

If you've ever read The Hobbit you know who Smaug is, if not: he's a dragon. My Smaug is one coexisting among humans and just sick and tired of the venomous little prigs. He talks to himself (and the audience) before finally getting the Hell out of here, while spreading some well deserved havoc and mayhem. It also is a strange song - besides the fact it's from the point of view of a dragon from space, of course - because he speaks in three distinct voices.

I've been doing this song like that for all these years and recently reworked it a little for this CD. My good friend (and our producer), Mark Hudson, added the repeating title to what's one of his favorites (he IS a bit strange, after all). He was afraid no one would get caught up in a song which had no distinct chorus/refrain to jog the memory and said I needed the title in there somewhere. So now it's there in 12 harmonized voices.