'Puff, the Magic Dragon' not about drugs, says Yarrow

[0utrider]

It takes a lot to slay a dragon. But some myths—about, say, a certain magical dragon—are even harder to kill.

Not for the first time, Peter Yarrow, 69, the founder of '60s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary is insisting that those who interpret the group's famous song, "Puff, the Magic Dragon" as an ode to marijuana must be smoking something.

"No," Yarrow told Reuters recently. "Even if I had had the intention of writing a song about drugs ... I was 20 years old at Cornell in 1959 when it was written and I was so square at that time. ... Drugs had not emerged then."





But, Pete, what about those lyrics?

Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff/ and brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff. Oh.

Wasn't that less about Puff and more about, you know, puffing?

Nope, says Yarrow.

So, what is it about?

"The innocence of a lost childhood."

Skeptics, put that in your pipe and smoke it.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entert...,1495053.story