Puff, the Magic Dragon

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This article is about the song. For other uses, see Puff the Magic Dragon (disambiguation).

"Puff, the Magic Dragon"
Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Leonard Lipton
Peter Yarrow
Producer(s)Albert Grossman
Peter, Paul and Mary singles chronology
"If I Had a Hammer"
(1962) 		"Puff, the Magic Dragon"
(1963) 		"500 Miles"
(1963)

"Puff, the Magic Dragon" (or just "Puff") is an American folk song written by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary from a poem by Leonard Lipton. It was made popular by Peter, Paul and Mary in a 1962 recording released in January 1963.

Lipton wrote a poem about a dragon in 1959,[1] and, when Yarrow found it, he wrote the music to "Puff" based on the poem. After the song was released, Yarrow searched for Lipton to give him credit for the song.[2]

Lyrics

The lyrics for "Puff, the Magic Dragon" are based on a 1959 poem by Leonard Lipton, then a 19-year-old Cornell University student.[1] Lipton drew inspiration from Ogden Nash's poem "The Tale of Custard the Dragon".[3][4][5] The song tells the story of an immortal

fictional county
of Honalee. As time passes, Jackie matures and abandons his childhood games, leaving Puff alone and saddened.

Lipton, who was acquainted with Peter Yarrow through a mutual friend at Cornell, used Yarrow's typewriter to commit his poem to paper. He forgot about it until years later, when a friend informed him that Yarrow was seeking him to properly credit him for the lyrics. Upon reconnecting, Yarrow shared half of the songwriting credit with Lipton, who received royalties for the song until his death in 2022. Yarrow later died in 2025.[6]

In later performances, Yarrow changed the line "A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys" to "A dragon lives forever, but not so girls and boys", to be more inclusive.[7] The original poem included a stanza about Puff finding a new playmate, but this was not incorporated into the song. The paper left in Yarrow's typewriter in 1959 has since been lost.[4]

Reception

Cash Box described it as "a charming folk tune, about a magic dragon, right-up-the-vocal-alley of the remarkably successful folksters."[8]

Speculation about drug references

After the song's initial success, speculation arose—as early as a 1964 article in Newsweek—that the song contained veiled references to smoking marijuana.[9] The word "paper" in the name of Puff's human friend Jackie Paper was said to be a reference to rolling papers, the words "by the sea" were interpreted as "by the C" (as in cannabis), the word "mist" stood for "smoke", the land of "Honahlee" stood for hashish, and "dragon" was interpreted as "draggin'" (i.e., inhaling smoke). Similarly, the name "Puff" was alleged to be a reference to taking a "puff" on a joint. The supposition was claimed to be common knowledge in a letter by a member of the public to The New York Times in 1984.[10][11]

The authors of the song repeatedly rejected this interpretation and have strongly and consistently denied that they intended any references to drug use.[12] Both Lipton and Yarrow had stated, "'Puff, the Magic Dragon' is not about drugs."[13] Yarrow frequently explained that the song is about the hardships of growing older and has no relationship to drug-taking.[14][15] He also said that the song has "never had any meaning other than the obvious one" and is about the "loss of innocence in children."[16] He dismissed the suggestion of it being associated with drugs as "sloppy research".[17]

In 1973, Peter Yarrow's bandmate, Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary, also defended the song's innocence in a novel way. He recorded a version of the song at the Sydney Opera House in March 1973 where he set up a fictitious trial scene.[18] The prosecutor of the trial claimed the song was about marijuana, but Puff and Jackie protested. The judge finally left the case to the "jury" (the Opera House audience) and said if they would sing along, the song would be acquitted. The audience joined in with Stookey and at the end of their sing-along, the judge declared the "case dismissed."[19]

Up to his death in January 2025, Yarrow maintained that the song did not reference marijuana.[20]

Notable recordings and chart performance

In 1961, Peter Yarrow joined Paul Stookey and

Mary Travers to form Peter, Paul and Mary. The group incorporated the song into their live performances before recording it in 1962. The trio's 1962 recording of "Puff the Magic Dragon" entered the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 charts on March 30, 1963, and peaked at number two, kept out of the top spot by "I Will Follow Him" by Little Peggy March.[21] It topped Billboard's Adult Contemporary charts.[22] It also reached number ten on Billboard's R&B chart.[23] In Canada, the song reached number five in April 1963.[24]

Notable cover versions

During the autumn of 1966, Swedish pop band Fabulous Four, which included

Kvällstoppen, the single reached number three on December 20, 1966.[36]

Adaptations

A 1978 animated television special,

Rankin-Bass holiday TV specials, was published by Avon Books.[37] In December 2016, it was announced that Fox Animation would produce a live-action/animation film based on the song with Mike Mitchell as director.[38] As of November 2020, the progress of this project had no updates, leading some fans to conclude that it has been quietly canceled.[39]

The song was adapted for a children's pantomime, which played at Sydney's Seymour Centre in 1983.[40]

A 2007 book adaptation of the song's lyrics by Yarrow, Lipton, and illustrator Eric Puybaret gives the story a happier ending with a young girl (presumed by reviewers to be Jackie Paper's daughter)[41] seeking out Puff to become her new companion. The lyrics remain unchanged from the Peter, Paul, and Mary version; the young girl is only seen in the pictures by illustrator Puybaret. On the last page of the book, she is introduced to Puff by an older Jackie Paper.

The tune was used by Versatec, a computer printer company, in the promotional LP Push the Magic Button for the song of the same name.[42]

American fabulist Robert Coover wrote about the later lives of Puff and Jackie Paper in "Sir John Paper Returns to Honah-Lee", the first story in his collection A Child Again (McSweeney's Books, 2005).[43]

Parodies

In the mid 1970s, an American Jewish band named Ruach created a parody version of the song entitled "Puff the Kosher Dragon". In the course of the song, Kosher Puff eats

anti-Semites, and finally marries and brings up his children as loyal members of the faith.[44] The Ruach song has been noted[45]
as one of the first examples of a modern Jewish band using a popular secular tune.

Both tune and elements of the lyrics were adapted in the controversial parody "

Barack the Magic Negro", written and recorded by Paul Shanklin for Rush Limbaugh's radio program, after the term was first applied to then presidential candidate Barack Obama by movie and culture critic David Ehrenstein. In a Los Angeles Times op-ed column of March 19, 2007, Yarrow condemned the act as "shocking and saddening in the extreme," stating that "taking a children's song and twisting it in such vulgar, mean-spirited way, is a slur to our entire country and our common agreement to move beyond racism… It is almost unimaginable to me that Chip Saltzman, who sent the CD [as a Christmas greeting to NRC members], would seriously be considered for the top post of the Republican National Committee. Puff, himself, if asked, would certainly agree."[46]

Vietnam War gunship

During the

AC-47 Spooky gunship was nicknamed the "Dragon" or "Dragon ship" by the Americans because of its armament and firepower. The nickname soon caught on, and American troops began to call the AC-47 "Puff the Magic Dragon".[47] Robert Mason's Chickenhawk states, in reference to the Peter, Paul, and Mary song playing on a turntable: "'Puff the Magic Dragon' was making me uncomfortable. It was the saccharine song that had inspired the naming of the murderous Gatling-gun-armed C-47s. I couldn't listen."[48]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Lipton, Lenny. "Lenny Lipton". Lennylipton. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
  2. ^ "Puff The Magic Dragon by Peter, Paul and Mary". SongFacts. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  3. ^ Nash, Ogden. "The Tale of Custard the Dragon". Harvard. Archived from the original on December 1, 2011. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Puff The Magic Dragon by Peter, Paul and Mary". Songfacts. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  5. ISBN 978-0446389372
    .
  6. ^ DeSantis, Rachel (January 7, 2025). "Peter Yarrow, Grammy-Winning Musician of Peter, Paul and Mary Fame, Dies at 86". People. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  7. ^ "Puff the Magic Dragon – Marijuana References in the Song Lyrics". May 21, 2000. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  8. ^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. March 9, 1963. p. 50. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  9. ^ "Puff the Magic Dragon and Marijuana". Snopes. January 19, 2001. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
  10. ^ "Magic Dragon's Not-So-Innocuous Puff". The New York Times. October 11, 1984. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
  11. ^ "Peter Yarrow - Biography". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  12. ^ Just A Minute With: Peter Yarrow. Reuters. March 6, 2008.
  13. ^ "How 'Puff The Magic Dragon' Came To Be". Great Big Story. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  14. ^ "Puff the Magic Dragon and Marijuana". Snopes. September 14, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  15. Konstantin, Phil. Kusi TV
    (interview). American Indian.
  16. ^ "Puff the magic dragon". YouTube (live).
  17. ^ "Puff: Still Not a Drug Song". Chronogram.
  18. ^ Released in 1977 on the album "Real to Reel" and distributed by Sparrow Records
  19. ^ Noel Paul Stookey (1977). Reel to Reel (Audio recording). Neworld Media.
  20. ^ "Peter Yarrow of folk-music trio Peter, Paul and Mary dies at 86". CNN. Associated Press. January 7, 2025. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  21. ^ "Top 100 Songs | Billboard Hot 100 Chart". Billboard.
  22. ISBN 0-8230-7499-4
    .
  23. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 458.
  24. ^ "CANAda's (TED KENNEDY) WEEKLY SINGLES CHART FROM 1963 - hitsofalldecades.com". hitsofalldecades.com. Archived from the original on October 17, 2018. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  25. ^ "CHUM Hit Parade - April 22, 1963".
  26. ^ "flavour of new zealand - search lever". Flavourofnz.co.nz. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  27. ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  28. ^ "Cash Box Top 100 5/11/63". Cashboxmagazine.com. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  29. ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1963/Top 100 Songs of 1963". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  30. ^ "Top Adult Contemporary Songs of 1963 • Music VF, US & UK hits charts". Musicvf.com. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  31. ^ "Cash Box YE Singles (Pop) 1963". Tropicalglen.com. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  32. ^ a b "Puff the Magic Dragon / Fabulous Four". Svensk mediedatabas. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  33. ^ a b Persson, Lennart (1984). Fabulous Four – Fabulous Four, 1965-68! (LP) (in Swedish). CSP Records. CLP 5003.
  34. ISBN 978-0-7119-8389-2
    .
  35. ISBN 978-91-89136-89-2
    .
  36. ISBN 9163021404
    .
  37. ^ "Display Ad: Children love what Camelot has". The New York Times. September 16, 1979. ProQuest 120730663.
  38. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. "Peter, Paul & Mary Tune 'Puff The Magic Dragon' In Fox Deal With 'Troll's Helmer Mike Mitchell". Deadline. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  39. ^ "Puff The Magic Dragon Updates: Is The Animated Adventure Still Coming?". ScreenRant. November 14, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  40. ^ "What's On For the School Hols [sic]". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  41. ^ Goddard, Peter (August 18, 2007). "New take on Puff the Magic Dragon". The Star. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
  42. ^ "Push the Magic Button". Archives (songlist). Computer History Museum.[permanent dead link‍]
  43. ^ Prince, David (October 6, 2006). "Absolutely fabulist". The Santa Fe New Mexican. p. 100.
  44. ^ "Puff the Kosher Dragon". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021.
  45. ISBN 9780827610279
    .
  46. The Huffington Post
    .
  47. ^ Pike, John (October 17, 2016). "AC-47". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  48. OCLC 656959792. [page needed
    ]
  49. ^ "Meet the Parents". LearningfromLyrics.org.
  50. ^ "Meet the Fockers (2004) – Deep Focus Review – Movie Reviews, Critical Essays, and Film Analysis". Deep Focus Review. December 6, 2010.
  51. ^ Chow, Denise (December 8, 2010). "Millionaire private space capsule splashes: successful maiden voyage". Space.com. Retrieved May 15, 2014.

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