Magic on the beach is a truly unique and captivating experience. Imagine walking along the shoreline, feeling the warm sand beneath your feet and listening to the soothing sound of crashing waves. Suddenly, you stumble upon a group of people gathered in a circle, their eyes filled with excitement and wonder. Curiosity piques as you approach closer, and it becomes evident that they are engaged in a magical performance. The ambiance is alive with anticipation as the magician charms the audience with tricks and illusions. Cards seem to change colors effortlessly, objects disappear and reappear, and mind-reading acts leave everyone astounded.
Is 'Puff the Magic Dragon' About Marijuana?
Cards seem to change colors effortlessly, objects disappear and reappear, and mind-reading acts leave everyone astounded. Laughter and amazement fill the air as the crowd becomes enthralled in the creativity and sheer skill demonstrated by the magician. The beach provides the perfect backdrop for this enchanting display.
'Puff the Magic Dragon' is what its writers have always claimed it to be: a song about the innocence of childhood lost.
David Mikkelson
Published Jan 19, 2001
Claim: The Peter, Paul & Mary tune "Puff, the Magic Dragon" is a coded song about marijuana. Rating: FalseAbout this rating
The poem that formed the basis of the song "Puff, the Magic Dragon" was written in 1959 by Leonard Lipton, a nineteen-year-old Cornell student. Lipton was inspired by an Ogden Nash rhyme about a Dragon," and, using a dragon as the central figure, he came up with a poem about the end of childhood innocence. Lipton passed his work along to a friend, fellow Cornell student (and folk music enthusiast) Peter Yarrow, who put a melody to the words and wrote additional lyrics to create the song "Puff, the Magic Dragon." After Yarrow teamed up with Mary Travers and Paul Stookey in 1961 to form Peter, Paul & Mary, the trio performed the song in live shows, and their 1962 recording of "Puff" reached #2 on the Billboard charts in early 1963.
The 1960s being what they were, however, any song based on oblique or allegorical lyrics was subject to reinterpretation as a "drug song," and so it was with "Puff, the Magic Dragon." "Puff" was an obvious name for a song about smoking pot; little Jackie Paper's surname referred to rolling papers; "autumn mist" was either clouds of marijuana smoke or a drug-induced state; the land of "Hanah Lee" was really the Hawaiian village of Hanalei, known for its particularly potent marijuana plants; and so on. But as Peter Yarrow demonstrated in countless concert performances, any song — even "The Star-Spangled Banner" — could be interpreted as a "drug song."
Here is what the people who created and popularized the song have said about it:
Leonard Lipton (co-writer):
["Puff" is about] loss of innocence, and having to face an adult world. It's surely not about drugs. I can tell you that at Cornell in 1959, no one smoked grass. I find the fact that people interpret it as a drug song annoying. It would be insidious to propagandize about drugs in a song for little kids.
Peter Yarrow (co-writer):
As the principal writer of the song, I can assure you it's a song about innocence lost. It's easier to interpret "The Star-Spangled Banner" as a drug song than "Puff, the Magic Dragon." This is just a funny rumor that was promulgated by Newsweek magazine [who ran a cover story about covert drug messages in pop music]. There is no basis for it. It's inane at this point and really unfortunate, because even in Hong Kong it's not played because of the allegation it's about drugs. But I assure you it's not.
When 'Puff' was written, I was too innocent to know about drugs. What kind of a meanspirited SOB would write a children's song with a covert drug message?
Mary Travers:
Peter wrote the song in 1958 [sic], and it is not about marijuana. Believe me, if he wanted to write a song about marijuana, he would have written a song about marijuana.
Sources
Hoffman, Ken. "BBC Includes Houston in 'Future of Cities' Program." The Houston Chronicle. 15 September 1995 (p. 2).
Garnick, Darren. The Jerusalem Report. 15 January 2001 (p. 39).
Matthews, Lynn. "Premier Folk Trio Takes Jet Plane to Portland." The Columbian. 17 March 1995 (p. D11).
Ruhlman, William. "Peter, Paul and Mary: The Early Years." Goldmine. 21 April 1996.
Shannon, Bob and John Javna. Behind the Hits. New York: Warner Books, 1986. ISBN 0-446-38937-4 (pp. 238-239).
Puff the Magic Dragon – Marijuana References in the Song Lyrics
First published in 1998-ish in a collection of music oriented articles I wrote for my first website, The Octopus’s Garden. Republished here for the sake of an archive of that article.
Rumors abound that the Peter, Paul, and Mary children’s hit Puff the Magic Dragon is all about drugs, particularly marijuana yet The band claims it is simply about losing the innocence of childhood. Leonard Lipton, a friend of Peter Yarrow, wrote a poem while he and Yarrow were students at Cornell. He had just turned 19, and was writing about the loss of childhood. It took him only a few minutes to type the poem once he arrived at Yarrow’s house (no one was home; so he helped himself to the typewriter) – and he forgot about it when he left the building shortly afterward:
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. oh
Peter Yarrow wrote the song in 1958 before he joined the group. He wrote it after coming home and seeing a poem with words about the dragon. A few years later when this became a hit, Yarrow found Lipton and gave him half the songwriting credit. Lipton, who was a camp counselor when Yarrow found him, gets extensive royalties from this. Supposedly, Lipton based some of the words to his poem on an Ogden Nash poem called The Tale Of Custard The Dragon.
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee.Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on puff’s gigantic tail,
Noble kings and princes would bow whene’er they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag when puff roared out his name. oh!
The original poem had a verse that did not make it into the song. In it, Puff found another child and played with him after returning. Neither Yarrow nor Lipton remember the verse in any detail, and the paper that was left in Yarrow’s typewriter in 1958 has since been lost.
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee.A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, jackie paper came no more
And puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.
In an effort to be gender-neutral, Yarrow now sings the line “A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys” as “A dragon lives forever, but not so girls and boys.”
His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, puff could not be brave,
So puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave. oh!
At the end of the song, Puff goes back into his cave, symbolizing the loss of childhood innocence.
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee.
We’ve heard a rumor that the title was the nickname for a gunship used in the Vietnam War and that the song was banned in Singapore and Hong Kong because they thought it contained drug references. Some of the alleged drug references in this include the little boy’s name, Jackie Paper, which stood for rolling papers, the “autumn mist,” which was marijuana smoke, and the “land of Hanah Lee,” which was the Hawaiian town of Hanalei, famous for its marijuana plants. Yarrow insists it had nothing to do with drugs and he didn’t even know about pot in 1958. The drug rumors were fueled by an article in Newsweek magazine about hidden drug messages in pop music.
In the 2000 movie Meet The Parents, there is a debate over the meaning of this.
The first concerts of Peter, Paul, and Mary (in 1961) consisted of a solo set by each of the men, followed by a dozen songs sung as a trio. From the beginning, “Puff” was part of the trio’s repertoire. In 1962, one of Lenny Lipton’s friends heard the song in a Peter, Paul, and Mary concert and told Lipton that he had heard his poem. Peter Yarrow eventually tracked Lipton down to tell him what he did with the poem — although the song was performed for over a year, it wasn’t copyrighted until it was recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary for their second album, Moving, in early 1963.
In order to show the stupidity of calling this a drug song, the band sometimes performs “The Star Spangled Banner” at concert and pauses periodically to explain how the previous lines could describe drugs or drug-induced hallucinations.
Urban legend, history behind iconic ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ song
Thank goodness for dinner parties! Not only did we enjoy a superb meal and fine wines, but I got the inspiration for this column.
One of the trivia buff guests regaled me with his story of a three-decade-old misconception. At another gathering the topic drifted into the Peter, Paul and Mary hit “Puff the Magic Dragon.”
This guy mentioned that the song was actually one from the drug culture 1960s — his era not his habit — and it alluded to smoking marijuana.
I must admit that I’d heard the same urban legend (as many of you who were around and paying attention might also have heard). However, as he researched the song’s background he discovered that was not the case, and so was apologizing at the party to the woman whose beliefs in the song’s innocence he’d dispelled earlier.
This was a tale too good to pass up so I dug into my references. Here’s the background.
In 1959, Peter Yarrow, who joined Mary Travers and Paul Stookey in 1961, was a student at Cornell University.
One of his fellow students was 19-year-old Leonard Lipton.
One day Leonard was inspired by an Ogden Nash rhyme about a “Really-O Truly-O Dragon” to write a poem about the end of childhood innocence. Yarrow liked what he read, added some lyrics to it and underscored it with a melody.
When P, P & M came together they performed the song in live shows. This led to producing a record of “Puff,” which reached No. 2 on the charts in early 1963.
If you remember that time period, many songs based on oblique or allegorical lyrics were subject to reinterpretation as drug songs. I offer “Eight Miles High” and “A Whiter Shade of Pale” as examples.
So, little Jackie Papers referred to rolling papers, “Autumn Mist” was clouds of marijuana smoke and the land of “Hanah Lee” was really Hawaii’s Hanalei, known for potent marijuana plants, etc.
When Lipton was queried about his poem. He stated, it’s “about loss of innocence, and having to face an adult world. It’s surely not about drugs. It would be insidious to propagandize about drugs in a song for little kids.”
Peter Yarrow went so far as to demonstrate in concert performances that any song — even “The Star-Spangled Banner” — could be interpreted as a “drug song.” Think about that the next time you warble “Oh say can you see …”
• In a remotely related item, Francis Scott Key was aboard the Minden, an English ship (flag of truce boat), when he wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” in September of 1814. My references don’t indicate that he was smoking anything.
• Before there was the film “M*A*S*H,” there was “Battle Circus” in 1952. This same-themed movie took the issues more seriously and starred Humphrey Bogart and June Allyson.
• “Meanest mountain on Earth” has a nasty ring to it. The north wall of the Eiger in Switzerland has caused it to receive that title. It wasn’t until 1938 that it was scaled by four German climbers.
• I loved Johnny Carson’s “Carnacs.” Try this one: the answer is Strontium 90 Carbon 14. And the question is: What was the score of the Strontium/Carbon game? Sorry.
• I can believe it. Short people have fewer back problems than do tall people.
• “Can you show me which trail to take?” said Tom telepathically.
Jim Willard, a Loveland resident since 1967, retired from Hewlett-Packard after 33 years to focus on less trivial things. He calls Twoey, his bichon frisé-Maltese dog, vice president of research for his column.
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WTFAW: Puff, The Magic Dragon
It’s time to take another look into Drug Theories. This time, we’re going way back, all the way to the 1960’s!
Dave, bring on the stupid.
Dave: The theory is that “Puff, The Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul and Mary is about marijuana.
Aah, you gotta love the classics… So, what are the arguments?
Dave: Well, come on. they weren’t even trying with that! The kids name is Jackie PAPER, and “Puff the Magic Dragon” is a well known euphemism for smoking pot. The Paper is clearly a reference to rolling papers, for rolling joints.
That’s all? In that case, let’s start with the euphemism. While you’re right about it being a well known euphemism, the problem is that the euphemism is NAMED AFTER THE SONG, not the other way around!
The confusion might have arisen since, before this song, there was another drug related slang term referring to dragons. “Chasing the Dragon“. But that was a reference to smoking OPIUM, not Marijuana.
As for the name of the kid… isn’t it as bit strange that the character supposedly doing drugs is himself named after drug paraphernalia? It doesn’t really work, does it?
And where do strings and sealing wax fit into the idea?
Dave: Well, bongs, obviously!
Right…. what kind of crappy excuse for a bong can you make out of string?! Sealing wax, MAYBE, but string?!
Don’t get me wrong. I admit it might be possible to make a bong out of string… But somehow, I doubt that McGuyver ever smoked pot.
Dave: But it’s so obvious! The song is about someone smoking pot! It’s all metaphorical.
Is it? What about this verse?
Together they would travel on a boat with a billowed sail.
Jackie kept a lookout perched on puffs gigantic tail.
Noble kings and Princes would bow wherever they came,
pirate ships would lower their flags when Puff roared out his name.
Dave: Well, it’s clearly a drug induced hallucination!
An interesting idea, but the problem with that is, as we’ve established, Marijuana doesn’t have that effect! It doesn’t create such vivid hallucinations. You are, once again, confusing Cannabis with LSD, Salvia or a similar hallucinogenic.
Dave: Well, maybe it’s a song about one of those…
Oh no, you don’t get to switch drugs now. And like you said, the term “Puff the magic dragon” is specifically a reference to smoking pot.
You know what the song is really about? It’s about growing up, losing the innocence of your childhood, and it’s inspired by a poem called “The Tale of Custard the Dragon” from 1936.
Dave: Where did you get that from?
Peter Yarrow, the guy who wrote the song.
Dave: Oh, you take his word for it? You’re so naïve! They just said that to be allowed to sell the song.
And they would keep up the lie for more than 50 years because….?
But yes, I take his word for it, along with the fact that, as we’ve established, the drug it’s supposedly about doesn’t have the effects the song describes.
Oh, and there is another thing… The song was marketed at children!
Do you know how Peter, Paul and Mary reacted when they heard of this supposed “subtext”?
They were fucking horrified!
One of them was quoted as saying “What kind of mean spirited SOB would make a childrens song with a covert drug message?!”
And as “for just saying it to be allowed to sell the song”, here’s a quick history lesson for you.
Peter, Paul and Mary was one of the most popular folk bands of the 1960’s, and remain so to this day. Do you seriously think that if they wrote a song about Marijuana, they would have to hide it in subtext and be metaphorical in order to sell it? Conversely, listen to Sugarman or Purple Haze. They sure as hell didn’t need to HIDE the drug references to be allowed to sell the song, with sugarman having lines like this
Silver majik ships, you carry
Jumpers, coke, sweet MaryJane
Really, the reason people think this song is about drugs, is because it was a folk song in the 1960’s, and people assumed it HAD to be about drugs.
Dave: Yeah, can you blame them! All bands wrote about drugs back then!
Really? Name five other songs by Peter, Paul and Mary that were secretely about drugs. In fact, name five songs that were OVERTLY about drugs.
Guess what. I’d be stunned if you found ONE.
And even then, I can almost guarantee that I could explain exactly why it doesn’t make sense.
Because fan theories almost never do.
The openness of the surroundings and the ever-changing tides seem to enhance the mystery and enchantment of the magic being performed. The smell of salty ocean air combines with the allure of the tricks, creating an unforgettable sensory experience. As the sun sets and darkness embraces the beach, the magic becomes even more mystical. With the aid of subtle lighting and atmospheric music, the performance takes on an ethereal quality. Shadows dance across the sand, adding an element of mystery and intrigue. Each trick is met with gasps of astonishment, and the audience becomes more captivated with every passing moment. The allure of magic on the beach is not limited to the performance itself. It is a catalyst for connection and interaction among the onlookers. Strangers become bonded by shared awe and amazement, exchanging amazed glances and engaging in conversations about what they just witnessed. It is a powerful reminder of the sway that magic holds over our imaginations and our desire for connection with others. Magic on the beach is a testament to the never-ending human fascination with the unknown and the desire to be captivated by the impossible. It is a reminder that even in the most ordinary of places, extraordinary moments can be created. So, the next time you find yourself on a beach, keep an eye out for that telltale circle of enchanted onlookers, because you never know what magic may unfold before your eyes..
Reviews for "Harnessing Oan El Psao for Personal Growth: The Magic of Self-Transformation"
1. John - 1 star - I really did not enjoy "Magic oan el psao" at all. The plot was convoluted and confusing, and the characters were one-dimensional and unrelatable. The pacing was also incredibly slow, with nothing really happening until halfway through the book. I was left feeling bored and frustrated, and I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.
2. Emily - 2 stars - "Magic oan el psao" had so much potential, but it fell flat for me. The writing felt disjointed and inconsistent, making it difficult to follow the story. The world-building was also lacking, leaving many aspects of the magic system unexplained or confusing. I found myself struggling to connect with the characters and their motivations, and ultimately, I was left disappointed by the overall lackluster execution of what could have been a great fantasy novel.
3. Sarah - 2.5 stars - While "Magic oan el psao" had some interesting ideas, it failed to deliver a compelling story. The pacing was uneven, with periods of intense action followed by long stretches of stagnation. The writing style was also a bit cumbersome, making it hard to fully engage with the narrative. Additionally, the characters felt underdeveloped, lacking depth and complexity. Overall, this book left me feeling underwhelmed and wanting more from the plot and characters.