"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 secretly refer to smoking marijuana, "Puff" became a hippie anthem. Another rumor says the song refers to LSD, in the characted of "Jackie Paper" (LSD is sometimes soaked into thin sheets of paper before being ingested). However, the creators of the song flatly deny any intentional drug reference (compare "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds").

The title character was adopted into a series of TV specials voiced by Burgess Meredith. In this series, Puff is a wise dragon who comes to help children who need him.

Parodies

Due to its popularity, the song has generated many parodies and songs sung to the same tune. One (c. 1964) went:

Mary was a virgin,

At least that's what they say,

But I still think she got knocked up

That same old-fashioned way.

See also: European dragon, list of dragons

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 4 Gatling guns fired red tracers that gave it the appearance of breathing fire.