Puff the Magic Dragon

Puff (the Magic Dragon) was a hit single for folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary in the early 1960s. The trio consisted of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers. They came together as "Peter, Paul and Mary" in 1961.

"Puff the Magic Dragon" was recorded in 1962 and appeared on the group's second album, "Moving", in 1963. The single reached number two on the Billboard charts.

Vietnam, Drugs or Loss of Innocence?

The song quickly spawned a number of urban myths, helped on by an issue of Newsweek magazine that ran a cover story on drugs in pop. There were two main rumours concerning the lyrics of Puff the Magic Dragon: one was that they referred to recreational drug use ("Puff" being assumed to be marijuana), the other that they referred to the Vietnam war. Both stories have been repeatedly denied by all those involved with the song.

According to the writers, Puff the Magic Dragon is in fact a bittersweet tale of growing up and the loss of childhood innocence. This is summed up by the following lines:

A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.

Growing up is the death of childhood. Puff is simply a child's much-loved favourite toy, forgotten and cast aside with the years:

His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.

It's interesting to note that there was a Vietnam weapon nicknamed Puff. However the AC-47 gunship only came into service in 1964 so the weapon must have been named after the song rather than the other way around.