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From: warinner@flood.xnet.com (Andrew Warinner)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.military
Subject: Puff the Magic Dragon
Date: 8 Aug 1996 21:17:20 GMT

In yet another effort to illuminate the dark corners of the FAQ, consider the following entry:

F. The song "Puff the Magic Dragon" is about smoking pot or Vietnam war weapon.

I found the following explanation of the origins of "Puff the Magic Dragon" in the April 21, 1996 issue of "Goldmine" in "Peter, Paul and Mary: the Early Years" by William Ruhlman:

"Puff, The Magic Dragon," the song that folk singers loved to hate, and that generations of children would just love, was conceived by a friend of Yarrow's in late 1958. "It was in my senior year, during finals, before the winter break, that the basis of the song was typed out on a sheet written by Leonard Lipton, who was kind of my little brother in a fraternity-to-end-all- fraternities kind of a concept," Yarrow said. "I guess we were all lonely, and yet we didn't like the idea of fraternities, and so this was one of those fraternities of so-called losers. Of course, in the light of today that all looks rather ludicrous, though at the time it was a pretty rugged social system at Cornell and, really, in the United States. Sensibilities were very much of the '50s. The '60s had not yet brought another view of the way people might think of fairness, justice, sensitivity to one another, whatever.

"I took that and worked on it and added more than half again the lyrics that had been written and put a melody to it. Indeed, I've recovered the first scrap of paper and my notes on it. So, I've been able to say, 'Oh, I wrote that line.' What I brought to it really was the sense, as opposed to the adventure story, of the idea of the loss of innocence, when I wrote, 'A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys,' at the time. Now, I sing, 'girls and boys.' The idea was that this was a song that really had a sense of tragic, if you will, implications, like some of the great mythical stories.

As we reach that point of growing up, it's at best a sad sweetness when we emerge as adults because we have to leave childish things, dragons, behind.

"Now, implicit in that story is the possibility that as adults we might find another way to confirm something analogous to innocence, and, indeed, I do believe that folk music in general and idealism and belief in possibility--as opposed to the mean-spiritedness that seems to be grasping this nation in such a frightening way--that other hopeful point of view and the desire to continue to work toward an ideal, is for me a continuation of innocence. But that isn't really indicated in the song, it's just my own feeling." (And you thought it was just a children's song.)

So no marijuana or Vietnam war weapons are mentioned. Damn, another childhood memory shattered.

But there was a Vietnam weapon nicknamed "Puff the Magic Dragon." It was the AC-47 gunship. "Puff" was the venerable C-47 Dakota airplane converted to hold a whole lot weaponry and used in close air support. "Puff" is also used to refer to the AC-130 gunship but it's nickname was "Spooky" or "Spectre." Since the AC-47 was first used in Vietnam in October 1964 and the AC-130 was first used 1967 they cannot be inspiration for a song written in 1958 and copyrighted in 1963.

As for allusions to marijuana, feel free to interpret the lyrics for yourself:

  Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
  And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
  Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff
  And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff, oh

      Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
      And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
      Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
      And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.

  Together they would travel on boat with billowed sail
  Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff's gigantic tail
  Noble kings and princes would bow whene'er they came
  Pirate ships would lower their flags when Puff roared out his name, oh 

CHORUS

  A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys
  Painted wings and giants's rings make way for other toys.
  One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
  And Puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.

  His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain
  Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
  Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave
  So, Puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave, oh 

CHORUS

By Peter Yarrow and Leonard Tipton On Peter, Paul & Mary's MOVING, IN CONCERT, and 10 YEARS. Copyright 1963 Pepamar Music.

Andrew "it's really a song about mastication" Warinner