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The year was 1963; JFK was murdered in Dallas, the Beatles released their first album, and Martin Luther King Jr delivered his speech “I have a Dream” in Washington DC. It was the backdrop of the release of “Puff, The Magic Dragon” of the American Folk Renewal Group Peter, Paul and Mary. The song was based on a poem by the American lyricist and filmmaker Leonard Lipton. In 1959 Lipton was a 19 -year -old Cornell University student and Peter Yarrow, later Peter, Paul and Mary. Lipton wrote the poem on the Yarrow type type type in 1959 and forgot it until years later, when Yarrow came into contact to share the credit for the song he had written around the poem.
The song tells the story of an immortal dragon named Puff and his adventures in the country of Honah Lee with her friend, Jackie Paper. Alas, adulthood strikes for Jackie, who matures and leaves puff alone with his games because, as the words go: “a dragon lives forever, but not so little boys” (Yarrow changed later for “Girls and Boys”).
After the initial success of the melody – he culminated in number two in American graphics – speculation appeared that it was not, in fact, the inevitable loss of innocence in children. A 1964 article in Newsweek proclaimed that “Puff” was in fact a reference to the smoking of marijuana. Puff's friend, Jackie Paper, would be a reference to “roller papers”, and the country of Honah Lee was supposed to be an understatement for the “hashish”. The icing on the accusation cake was itself puffed, interpreted as a reference to “Draggin” – as in, taking a trail of a joint. “Puff” was considered in the same gang as tracks such as “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”; A New York Times reader wrote in 1984 that such songs were part of the “romanticization of drugs in the 1960s”. The same reader judged that he was “falsified to use the song as a symbol of a harmless intention”.
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Pierre, Paul and Mary opposed this interpretation. Yarrow described suspicion of the result of “sloppy research” and defended the intention of the song to capture the magic of youth and to cry its loss. In 1976, the member of the group Paul Stookey found his own way of protesting the insult. He created a “trial” scene at the Sydney opera and interpreted a new version of the song in which a prosecutor accused the song of being on marijuana. Puff and Jackie rejected the complaint, but the result was left to the “jury” in the form of the public, which had to sing in order to acquit the song. They did it, and Stookey proclaimed it “the rejected affair”.
The group broke up in 1970; The same year, Yarrow, who died in January of this year, was found guilty of sexual abuse of a 14 -year -old girl. He served three months in prison. He was forgiven by President Jimmy Carter in 1981, the day before his presidency.
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The notable covers included one in 1968 of Bing Crosby and another in 1966 by the Swedish group Fabulous Four, which was produced by Benny Andersson, later of Abba. He was parodied by the American Jewish group Ruach as “Puff Le Dragon Cosher”. A special lively television of 1978 (and two suites) concerned the adventures of Puff, in which he helps a boy who does not speak to recover the power of speech. “Puff” also develops in the comedy film of 2000 Meet parents: The Jack byrnes trend (Robert de Niro) likes song without being aware of his supposed drug addicts. In the sequel to 2004, Jack puts “puff” like the sound of the horn of his VR.
An unusual destination for this song was a nickname for a powerful combat vessel, AC-47 Spooky, used by the United States in the Vietnam War. The airmen called him “inflate the magic dragon” because during the night missions, his guns threw fire and smoke. An improbable fan of the song is Elon Musk, who named a family of spaceships after him, the Dragon Spacex. “So many people thought I had to smoke grass to do this business,” he said, perpetuating the alleged link with marijuana.
But the real message of the song always sounds true: the carefree innocence of childhood must be protected and is often too early.
Let us know your memories of 'Puff, The Magic Dragon' in the comments section below
The pocket edition of “ The life of a song: the stories behind 100 of the most appreciated songs in the world ''Published by David Cheal and Jan Dalley, is published by Chambers
Musical credits: Warner; Noel Paul Stookey; Classic
