The death of Peter Yarrow at 86 has sparked renewed questions about whether his song, "Puff the Magic Dragon," written with Leonard Lipton in 1959 and recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary in 1962, was an ode to marijuana. It peaked at No. 2 in 1963.
Yarrow went to his death contending the folk song was not about pot. In 2008, he told Reuters:
"Even if I had had the intention of writing a song about drugs – which I may have had at a later time – I was 20 years old at Cornell in 1959 when it was written and I was so square at that time, as was everyone else. Drugs had not emerged then. I know Puff was a good dragon and would never had had drugs around him. Now you've heard that from the mouth of the dragon's daddy."
Yarrow said it was about "the innocence of a lost childhood. A dragon lives for forever but not so little girls and boys. At a certain point we have to grow up and put our toys away. It's sad but it does have hope because the dragon becomes our hopes and dreams."
Lyrics Explained
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff
And brought him strings, and sealing wax, and other fancy stuff
Those who believe "Puff the Dragon" was a drug song noted these veiled references:
• Puff = smoking marijuana
• Dragon = inhaling, taking a "drag"
• Sea = C for cannabis
• Mist = smoke
• Honah Lee = hashish
• Jackie Paper = rolling papers
Pot (or Not?) Songs
Page 99 of my book Pot Culture (written with Shirley Halperin) lists five songs that may or may not be about pot. They are:
• "Puff the Magic Dragon"
• "Along Comes Mary" – The Association
• "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35: – Bob Dylan
• "Light Up or Leave Me Alone" – Traffic
• "Rocky Mountain High" – John Denver
About "Puff," we wrote:
"You can draw your own conclusions just Ben Stiller (as Gaylord Focker) in Meet the Parents (2000) did when he told his father-in-law-to-be, Jack (Robert De Niro) that the song was about marijuana while they listened to it on the car radio. The conservative Jack took this as another reason why Gaylord was not suitable for his daughter."
"Puff" in Meet the Parents
It's a high-larious scene. Focker and Jack are not getting along well and this further sets Jack off. It starts with Jack asking:
"Do you like Peter, Paul & Mary?"
"Yes, I do. I'm a big fan."
As it plays on the car radio, Jack sings along. "It's a great song," Focker says.
"Yeah, one of my favorites."
"Who would've though it's really not about a dragon," Focker points out, laughing.
"What do you mean?"
"You know, the whole drug thing?"
"No, I don't know. Why don't you tell me?"
"Some people think to puff the magic dragon means to smoke, um, a marijuana cigarette."
"Puff's just the name of the boy's magical dragon."
"Right."
"Are you a pothead, Focker?"
"No, no – what? No, no, no, no, no. No, I pass on grass, all the time. I mean, not all the time."
"Yes or no, Focker?"
"Yes. No."
MORE HIGH TUNES
• Brewer & Shipley' "One Toke Over the Line"
• John Prine's "Illegal Smile"
• BJ Thomas' "Hooked on a Feeling"
