| "Puff, the Magic Dragon" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byPeter, Paul and Mary | ||||
| from the albumMoving | ||||
| B-side | "Pretty Mary" | |||
| Released | January 1963 | |||
| Recorded | 1962 | |||
| Genre | Pop,folk,Children's music | |||
| Length | 3:20 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Leonard Lipton Peter Yarrow | |||
| Producer(s) | Albert Grossman | |||
| Peter, Paul and Mary singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Puff, the Magic Dragon" (or just "Puff") is an American folk song written byPeter Yarrow ofPeter, Paul and Mary from a poem byLeonard 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 lyrics to "Puff" based on the poem. After the song was released, Yarrow searched for Lipton to give him credit for the song.[2]
The lyrics for "Puff, the Magic Dragon" are based on a 1959 poem by Leonard Lipton, then a 19-year-oldCornell University student.[1] Lipton drew inspiration fromOgden Nash's poem "The Tale of Custard the Dragon".[3][4][5] The song tells the story of an immortaldragon named Puff and his playmate, Jackie Paper, as they embark on adventures in thefictional county of Honalee. As time passes, Jackie matures and abandons his childhood games, leaving Puff sad and alone.
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 the more inclusive "A dragon lives forever, but not so girls and boys".[7] The original poem included a stanza about Puff finding a new playmate, but this was not incorporated into the song.[4]
Cash Box described it as "a charming folk tune, about a magic dragon, right-up-the-vocal-alley of the remarkably successful folksters."[8]
After the song's initial success, speculation arose—as early as a 1964 article inNewsweek—that the song contained veiled references to smokingmarijuana.[9] The word "paper" in the name of Puff's human friend Jackie Paper was said to be a reference torolling papers, the words "by the sea" were interpreted as "by the C" (as incannabis), the word "mist" stood for "smoke", the land of "Honahlee" stood forhashish, 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 toThe 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 todrug 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 theSydney Opera House in March 1973 where he set up afictitious 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]
In 1961, Peter Yarrow joined Paul Stookey andMary Travers to formPeter, 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 theBillboard Hot 100 charts on March 30, 1963, and peaked at number two, kept out of the top spot by "I Will Follow Him" byLittle Peggy March.[21] It topped Billboard'sAdult 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]
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
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During the autumn of 1966, Swedish pop band Fabulous Four, which includedLalla Hansson recorded the song; the session was produced by keyboardistBenny Andersson,[32][33][better source needed] later ofABBA fame.[34] Released as a single in November of that year, it was the group's first release onindependent record label Hep House, started by Andersson's bandHep Stars, following Fabulous Four's departure fromFontana Records.[33][better source needed] The single, backed by a cover ofWoody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land",[32] became a hit. It debuted at number one onTio i Topp on November 26, 1966, staying there for three consecutive weeks before being replaced byDonovan's "Mellow Yellow".[35] On sales chartKvällstoppen, the single reached number three on December 20, 1966.[36]
A 1978 animated television special,Puff the Magic Dragon, adapted the song. It was followed by two sequels,Puff the Magic Dragon in the Land of the Living Lies andPuff and the Incredible Mr. Nobody. In all three films,Burgess Meredith voiced Puff. In September 1979, a picture-book based on the animated feature, written byRomeo Muller, known for his contributions to theRankin-Bass holiday TV specials, was published by Avon Books.[37] In December 2016, it was announced thatFox Animation would produce a live-action/animation film based on the song withMike 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'sSeymour Centre in 1983.[40]
A 2007 book adaptation of the song's lyrics by Yarrow, Lipton, and illustratorEric 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 LPPush the Magic Button for the song of the same name.[42]
American fabulistRobert Coover wrote about the later lives of Puff and Jackie Paper in "Sir John Paper Returns to Honah-Lee", the first story in his collectionA Child Again (McSweeney's Books, 2005).[43]
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 eatskosher food, has abar mitzvah, fightsanti-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 byPaul Shanklin forRush Limbaugh's radio program, after the term was first applied to then presidential candidateBarack Obama by movie and culture criticDavid Ehrenstein. In aLos 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]
During theVietnam War, theAC-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'sChickenhawk 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 murderousGatling-gun-armed C-47s. I couldn't listen."[48]
