# Puff the Magic Dragon **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 28, 1999, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612 "1999-12-28T05:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/21 "2016-02-29T17:27:18Z")
> [@PoliticallyWhat](#): > > Yes, I saw the dates and it doesn’t matter. Someone else will stumble on this sight just as I did and they may not know the facts of the song and may walk away with false information. At least now it is there if they are taking time to also read 17 year old information. The facts of the song and it’s origins are the same no matter when the information gets posted. > And you took the time to respond for no other reason than to be surly. You need to consider how you are spending your own time before you judge me on mine. At least I provided constructive information. The point is, you got bent out of shape for what most people here would see was an obvious joke. Or, as we say round these parts, you got whooshed, son. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/22 "2016-02-29T17:34:27Z")
Moved to Cafe Society, which didn’t exist 17 years ago when this thread was started. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/23 "2016-02-29T17:37:01Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > As the Snopes article says: > > In the context of the times, it’s not surprising. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Peter Yarrow comment on it, but I wonder if he’s ever shared any thoughts about “Puff, the Magic Dragon” getting used as a nickname for the [AC47 Spooky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_AC-47_Spooky) gunship during Vietnam. I wouldn’t be surprised if that actually pissed him off more. I remember reading a Clive Cussler novel in which Cussler had referred to a compressed air anti-shark weapon as “Barf the Magic Dragon.” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/24 "2016-02-29T19:00:17Z")
nm. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/25 "2016-02-29T19:14:47Z")
> [@aklesh3](#): > > Isn’t there a “Happy” ending to Puff the Magic Dragon…it talking it over with my wife, we both seem to remember a version that had another little boy coming to play with Puff and Puff coming to know that while “not so little boys”, that there would be a endless supply of little boys to play with? But we can’t find it and anyone else we ask looks at us like we’re nuts! Help me! When I was little, _Puff The Magic Dragon_ made me sad. My much-older sister told me there’s another verse where Puff gets a new little boy to play with and he’s happy again. If such a verse exists, I’ve never heard it. But my sister’s (presumed) lie made me feel better. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/26 "2016-02-29T19:46:01Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > nm. Seems legit. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/27 "2016-02-29T20:19:18Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I recall the Captain Kangaroo version. It was the happy ending the OP is thinking of. Same here. That was something like 50 years ago. Wow. To the OP, tho, I was even wanting to say that I thought that PP&M had even done a ‘revisited’ kind of song. Guess I hallucinated that. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/28 "2016-02-29T21:38:52Z")
> [@Cooper](#): > > I don’t know, but anyone else familiar with the rumor that this was just a dope song? > > (Puff the Magic - Drag On!) Are you a pothead, _Cooper_? 😃 [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFCwtoxX60g) ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/29 "2016-02-29T22:00:51Z")
Here’s something interesting: the time this thread languished waiting for its claim that the PtMD was about the Trilateral Commission (16+ years) is almost half the time from PtMD’s original release to this thread’s OP. I swear time is accelerating. Also, for three of those 17 years, I co-owned a restaurant in Saigon at which Peter Yarrow ate three times during his stay there. However I was traveling at the time and missed him. Dammit! (Yes, that’s actually only interesting to me.) ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/30 "2016-02-29T22:42:43Z")
> [@aklesh3](#): > > Isn’t there a “Happy” ending to Puff the Magic Dragon. Sure, first you have to call in the fast movers, with some snake and nape, fire a bunch of star shells and pop open the beer. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/31 "2016-02-29T23:13:10Z")
Little Jackie Paper “moving on to other toys” means he stopped smoking so much “gateway” weed, started mainlining heroin, and eventually croaked from an OD. It’s TRUE. Ahh, how I miss 1999. I was so much older then; I’m younger than that now. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/32 "2016-02-29T23:21:55Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Little Jackie Paper “moving on to other toys” means he stopped smoking so much “gateway” weed, started mainlining heroin, and eventually croaked from an OD. It’s TRUE… No, it’s not true. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/33 "2016-02-29T23:26:11Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > No, it’s not true. It is! It is! Also, if you count up the syllables, you can calculate the date of Armageddon. Truth! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/34 "2016-03-01T01:23:35Z")
In fact, not only do I recall the upbeat ending of the Captain Kangaroo version, but I recall it so vividly that I’ve always assumed that was the original version. I mean, I know it wasn’t PP&M who sang that version, or at least I don’t think it was, but I thought that was just the way the song always went. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/35 "2016-03-01T02:05:29Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > …if you count up the syllables, you can calculate the date of Armageddon. Truth! …you ever put your finger on the turntable and play it _backwards_? It’ll blow your fucking mind, man. (When they found Jackie, he was stone blue and still had the needle hanging outta his arm.) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/36 "2016-03-01T16:28:32Z")
A dragon song with a happy ending? Who’s gonna get close enough to jerk off a dragon? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/37 "2016-03-01T18:15:57Z")
> [@aklesh3](#): > > Thanks for the web site but I’ve never thought of it as a drug song…how people could think that! [Oh, say, can you see? ‘C’ stands for ‘cocaine’…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=517889)😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fool_in_the_Rain)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/38 "2016-03-01T18:51:14Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > A dragon song with a happy ending? Who’s gonna get close enough to jerk off a dragon? Bilbo jerked off Smaug pretty good… I’ll get my coat ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/39 "2016-03-01T18:57:25Z")
> [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](#): > > I’ll get my coat I hope it’s a raincoat. It’s a big dragon. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612/40 "2016-03-03T21:04:13Z")
I’ve heard of zombie dragons\*, but this is ridiculous. \*[cite](http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Zombie_Dragon_(Final_Fantasy_VI)) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puff-the-magic-dragon/5612.md?page=3)