Puff, the Magic Dragon
Puff, the Magic Dragon is a song written and popularized by Peter, Paul and Mary in the 1960s. The song is so well-known that it has entered American and British pop culture.
The lyrics for "Puff" were based on a 1959 poem by Leonard Lipton, a nineteen-year-old Cornell student. Lipton was inspired by an Ogden Nash poem titled "Custard the Dragon", about a "realio, trulio, little pet dragon." Lipton passed his poem on to his friend Peter Yarrow, who added a tune and additional lyrics to transform the poem into the song. The lyrics tell a bittersweet story of the un-aging dragon Puff and his playmate Jackie Paper, a little boy who grows up and loses interest in the imaginary adventures of childhood.
Believed by many people to refer to smoking marijuana, it became a hippie anthem. The authors of the song have repeatedly denied any intentional drug reference. On stage, they have often asserted their innocence by comparing it to other songs like The Star-Spangled Banner that could be construed as a drug song if the listeners had a mind to make it that way.
Beginning in 1978, a short series of 30-minute animated television specials based on the song were produced with Burgess Meredith in the title role.
See also
External links
- "Puff the Magic Dragon" lyrics
- Urban Legends Reference Page which debunks the drug-reference myth
Puff the Magic Dragon is also American slang for the AC-47 gunship and AC-130 gunship airplanes in Vietnam, so-called because the Gatling guns fired red tracers that gave it the appearance of breathing fire.