A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant’s rings make way for other toys
One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff that mighty dragon ceased his fearless roar
[sup]Full lyrics here.[/sup]
I have a friend who sobs at this song. I always thought it was sad, but not worth crying over. But she’s one of my favorite people in the world, and it’s part of what makes her special.
She calls me Bean or Beandip, I call her Guinivere. She’s one of the coolest people I know. She has a knack for pulling me out of my shell, and making me meet people. For the last 6 years, we’ve lived over 1,000 miles apart, but when we do manage to get together(far too rarely), it’s like we’ve never been apart. She’s one of the few people in the world who knows the ‘real’ me, the one deep down that I don’t let out. And even knowing that, she loves me anyway. I don’t know why she does.
She got married several years ago, and later they decided to have a baby. Her due date came and went, and a week later she went into labor. Complications came up during the birth, and Jacob didn’t survive being born. He would be a year old today.
Guinivere, my prayers and thoughts have been with you all day today. I know from talking to you that this year has been one of the hardest of your life, that there have been days you didn’t want to get out of bed. I am incredibly proud of you for surviving. I don’t know that I could have taken the pain the way you have. I love you, my friend.
*His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave
So, Puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave, oh *
The song also made my wife cry. She never really paid attention to the words until I pointed them out to her one day. She was so sad that the song that she had loved as a child (they probably only sang the first verses in her kindergarten) was actually a sad song. I felt so bad that I wrote a couple of new verses to go at the end of the song to give it a happy ending. Maybe it will bring a smile to your friends face.
One fine sunny day there was a knock on Puff’s big cave
A little boy came walking in and said, “Hi, my name is Dave.”
Off the two friends went. Many battles they would win
Puff grew all new pretty scales 'cause reptiles shed their skin! *
A little cheesy, maybe, but I had to work fast. I just asked her if she remembered the incident and she pulled out the lyrics that I had written several years ago.
hajario, those are fantastic lyrics. i’ll add them whenever i sing that song.
lsura, i feel for you and your friend. many people don’t understand why i don’t like baby showers before babies are born. what happened to your friend is the reason why. i can’t imagine what she went through both in the hospital, seeing happy parents and babies, and when she returned home. i’m sure friends like you are how she got through this terrible year.
My aunt used to be a coffehouse singer/guitarist, on the side from her office job, and she also added an uplifting ending to that song. Don’t remember the words, though.
Sigh. I keep from crying at that song by telling myself, “No, it’s a song about getting high! Little Jackie Paper?!”
Sorry to hear about your friend, Lsura. Sounds like she’d be a great mom. Maybe she’ll get another opportunity.
My mom always told us that Honah Lee was Hanalei, a town on Kauai. My sister, who now lives just down the road from Hanalei, went there are couple of months ago and found a huge 30 foot dragon, Puff, crafted with the sand. She said it was absolutely amazing.
I muyself also loved that song. I didn’t know there was a PPM version but I had the book I’d mark each page with lyrics with a finger and go through and sing it to myself. Used to do it all the time but lost the book. But I seem to remember a whole lot more then just 4 stanzas. Holy cow they’re selling that book for $50 in Amazon’s Zshops, ID 0411B041325. Wow, I can’t believe how short that book was http://mudhole.spodnet.uk.com/~bean/puff/puff_book.html from the same website listed in the OP
Boy, you could really pin down my age with that reference.
I remember when I was about five years old, I thought the song was very sad. I didn’t understand about growing up, becoming an adult, etc., but I knew that Puff lost a friend. My sister (eight years older than I) explained to me that Puff got another friend and was happy again. That cheered me up, even though I’ve never heard it sung with “uplifting” verses.