PUFF, THE MAGIC DRAGON Puff, the Magic Dragon" is a song written by Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow and made popular by the group Peter, Paul and Mary in a 1963 recording. The song is so well-known that it has entered American and British pop culture. Contents [hide] 1 Lyrics 2 Urban legend 2.1 Bans 3 Television Specials 4 Cultural references 5 Other versions 6 See also 7 External links [edit] Lyrics The lyrics for "Puff" were based on a 1959 poem by Leonard Lipton, a nineteen-ye ar-old Cornell student. Lipton was inspired by an Ogden Nash poem titled "Custar d the Dragon," about a "Really-O, Truly-O, little pet dragon." Lipton passed his poem on to friend and fellow Cornell student Peter Yarrow, who created music an d more lyrics to make the poem into the song. In 1961, Yarrow joined Paul Stooke y and Mary Travers to form Peter, Paul and Mary. The group incorporated the song into their live performances before recording it in 1962. [1] The lyrics tell a bittersweet story of the ageless dragon Puff and his playmate Jackie Paper, a little boy who grows up and loses interest in the imaginary adve ntures of childhood and leaves Puff alone and depressed. The story of the song t akes place "by the sea" in the fantasy land of Honah Lee. [edit] Urban legend Believed by some people to refer to smoking marijuana, due to references to pape r, dragon ("draggin'") and puff (of smoke?) - and a rumor later incorporated int o the film Meet the Parents - the song became a hippie anthem. The authors of th e song have repeatedly and vehemently denied any intentional drug reference. On stage, they have often ridiculed that idea by comparing it to songs such as "The Star-Spangled Banner" that could also be construed as drug songs if the listene r were of a mind to do so.[1] Lost in this controversy is the point of the song -- that whatever the dragon may have stood for symbolically, the child of the so ng abandoned it once he became an adult. [edit] Bans Nevertheless, the song was banned in Singapore in 1963.[2] Singapore has also ba nned other songs associated with "drug culture" like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamo nds", and "Yellow Submarine".[citation needed] [edit] Television Specials Puff holding Jackie Paper from the 1978 cartoon.Beginning in 1978, a short serie s of 30-minute animated television specials based on the song were produced with Burgess Meredith in the title role. The series included Puff the Magic Dragon, Puff The Magic Dragon and the Land of the Living Lies, and Puff and the Incredib le Mr. Nobody. [edit] Cultural references

The phrase "Puff the Magic Dragon" is also American military slang for the AC-47 and AC-130 gunship airplanes used in Vietnam, so called because the planes' Gat ling guns fired red tracers that gave the appearance of breathing fire. The Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Apache Rose Peacock" refers to the placename "Ho nah Lee". In the movie Meet the Parents, Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is riding in a car with his fiancs father (Robert de Niro). The song comes on the radio and Greg mention s that it has connotations to marijuana. Puff was once referenced in a Far Side cartoon, in which an oil-coated dragon li es dead on a beach as a shipwrecked oil tanker sinks on the horizon. The caption reads, "Tragedy strikes off the coast in a land called Honah Lee."