Puff the Magic Dragon

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 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 rhyme about a "Really-O Truly-O Dragon." He passed his poem on to his friend Peter Yarrow who added a tune and additional lyrics to transform the poem into the song.

Believed by many people to refer to smoking marijuana, it became a hippie anthem. The authors of the song deny any intentional drug reference (compare Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds).

Parodies

Due to its popularity, the song has generated many parodies and songs sung to the same tune. One (~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 Link

• Puff the Magic Dragon lyrics
• Urban Legends Reference Page which debunks the drug-reference myth