Puff The Magic Dragon

The story of Puff, the magic dragon

In 1959, young Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul & Mary, found on a typewriter a poem named “Puff” that was left there by a friend of a roommate named Leonard Lipton.

In 1962, Peter wrote the music for this song that he named “Puff, The Magic Dragon”, which was performed by Peter, Paul & Mary.
By the year 1963 it became a hit and entered the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, and peaked at number two.

The song got a lot of attention and deservedly so, because it is a good example of the rare combination of a very touching poem with a tune that matches it beautifully. Puff got many covers by top performers such as The Mamas And The Papas, The Chad Mitchell Trio, The Brothers Four, Bing Crosby, The Seekers and many many others. However, the sophistication of the poem opens it to different interpretations by the performers. Some of them are loyal to the intention of the poet and create a moving effect but some miss the original intention completely and a less attractive song results

Song Meaning

the poem is about the somewhat sad process of growing up, leaving behind the colorful, rich child’s imagination.   

The poem unfolds as a story that begins with the child Jacky Paper going into fantastic adventures riding on a gigantic fearsome dragon Puff and a while later that child has grown up and shows no longer any interest in the child’s imaginary world. The interesting twist that the poem uses is telling this, from the point of view of the dragon that suffers the disappointment  and from being a mighty dragon that flies all over the world, sadly slips into his cave, Which is of course the toys shelf. So, the sad and harsh realities of growing up are transferred from the boy to the dragon.

The next two covers as the one of Peter Paul & Mary illustrate performances that convey very well the meaning of the song by giving it a sad fairytale like  sound

Puff the magic dragon / The mamas and the papas

Puff the magic dragon/ The brothers four dragon

A superficial look at a poem with a dragon in it tempts many to turn it into a cheerful children’s song. The following two videos are good examples. in the first, the childish rhythm and the parade trumpet sound, create the effect and in the second, the upbeat effect is created by the rock ‘n’ roll beat of the cover.

A particularly far fetched but popular interpretation of the song is that the song is a call to weed smoking. This interpretation is based on two things first, the dragon name is puff as in a smoking puff. the second hint is in the name of the child – Jackie Paper, that is a paper with which you roll a joint. This interpretation was rejected by both Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow. but this did not deter performers to produce covers as the one in the next page. The interpretation comes through by the hoarse voice of the singer and by reducing the poem to the expression “puff the magic”