Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Bonners Ferry, ID
Posts: 681

The truth behind the folk song classic puff the magic dragon!

Claim: The Peter, Paul & Mary tune Puff, the Magic Dragon is a loosely-coded song about marijuana.
Status: False.

Synopsis: No, Puff, the Magic Dragon is not about marijuana, or any other type of drug. It is what its writers have always claimed it to be: a song about the innocence of childhood lost.

Origins: The poem that formed the basis of the song Puff, the Magic Dragon was written in 1959 by Leonard Lipton, a nineteen-year-old Cornell student. Lipton was inspired by an Ogden Nash rhyme about a "Really-O Truly-O Dragon," and, using a dragon as the central figure, he came up with a poem about the end of childhood innocence. Lipton passed his work along to a friend, fellow Cornell student (and folk music enthusiast) Peter Yarrow, who put a melody to the words and wrote additional lyrics to create the song Puff, the Magic Dragon. After Yarrow teamed up with Mary Travers and Paul Stookey in 1961 to form Peter, Paul & Mary, the trio performed the song in live shows; their 1962 recording of Puff reached #2 on the Billboard charts in early 1963.

The 1960s being what they were, however, any song based on oblique or allegorical lyrics was subject to reinterpretation as a "drug song," and so it was with Puff. (For Peter, Paul & Mary, at least, the revelation that their song was "really" about marijuana came after the song had finished its chart run; other groups were not so fortunate, and accusations of "drug lyrics" caused some radio stations to ban songs such as the Byrds' Eight Miles High from their playlists.) Puff was an obvious name for a song about smoking pot; little Jackie Paper's surname referred to rolling papers; "autumn mist" was either clouds of marijuana smoke or a drug-induced state; the land of "Hanah Lee" was really the Hawaiian village of Hanalei, known for its particularly potent marijuana plants; and so on. As Peter Yarrow has demonstrated in countless concert performances, any song -- even The Star-Spangled Banner -- can be interpreted as a "drug song."

If the sheer ridiculousness of this rumor isn't enough to convince the faithful that Puff, the Magic Dragon is not a drug song, here is what the people who created it have said about the matter:

Leonard Lipton (co-writer):

["Puff" is about] loss of innocence, and having to face an adult world. It's surely not about drugs. I can tell you that at Cornell in 1959, no one smoked grass. I find the fact that people interpret it as a drug song annoying. It would be insidious to propagandize about drugs in a song for little kids.
Peter Yarrow (co-writer):

As the principal writer of the song, I can assure you it's a song about innocence lost. It's easier to interpret "The Star-Spangled Banner" as a drug song than "Puff, the Magic Dragon." This is just a funny rumor that was promulgated by Newsweek magazine. There is no basis for it. It's inane at this point and really unfortunate, because even in Hong Kong it's not played because of the allegation it's about drugs. But I assure you it's not.
Mary Travers (of Peter, Paul & Mary):

Peter wrote the song in 1958 [sic], and it is not about marijuana. Believe me, if he wanted to write a song about marijuana, he would have written a song about marijuana.


------------------
I should be allowed to blurt the merest idea if by random whim, one occurs to me If necessary, leave paper stains on the grey utility pole. I saw the worst bands of my generation applied by magic marker to dry wall I should be allowed to shoot my mouth off I should have a call in show I am not allowed to ever come up with a single original thought I am not allowed to meet the goverment agent who oppresses me I was the best hope of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical.........I should be allowed to think

That it's old and it's totally over now.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26384

The Masons killed JFK.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 5526

I met a guy who claimed to have written that song. I guess it was that Lipton guy.

We were doing mushrooms at the home of people who grew mushrooms for fun and profit.

Funny, I thought the guy said the song was about drugs.

Must have been the drugs.

Or the Masons.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Official field trip organizer
Posts: 997

What?

That song is about a dragon....a magic dragon.

everyone knows that...sheesh.

Why does everything have to have a hidden meaning?

(in background)
*number nine...number nine...number nine*

------------------


http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/boobsandbuds

You must have a FREE Yahoo ID to join the club and view the pictures.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Bonners Ferry, ID
Posts: 681

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boobsnbuds:
What?

That song is about a dragon....a magic dragon.

---

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged