puff the magic dragon

[little boy blue]

the song is reffering to smoking pot
do you know anymore hidden messages in songs?

 

[shazabella]

Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff
And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff, oh



[size=-1]Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee. [/size]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]Together they would travel on 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 flags when Puff roared out his name, oh [/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]CHORUS [/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys
Painted wings and giants's 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. [/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]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 [/size][/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]CHORUS [/size][/font]

Decide for yourself

- Shaz

 

[Mae Band]

my guess is that its about doobie rollers, why else would you name a person in a song jackie paper unless its about makin, well you know

 

[St Elmo's Fire]

my guess is that its about doobie rollers, why else would you name a person in a song jackie paper unless its about makin, well you know

It's a song in a very classical writing style, and names of such manner were very common in that. It is rather odd that Jackie Paper would be used with the word Puff, but to be honest that's about the only connection I can find in there.

I really don't think the song was about marijuana. It seems mostly coincidental.

Of course, if you want to be cool, it's always cool to claim that you thought of that symbolism yourself and are rebelling by singing little kids songs that might be about drugs.

I'm certain if I looked long enough in the Bible, I could make drug connections there that are even stronger, and more approving. Doesn't mean they really exist. But you can find symbolism in anything.

 

[stonetoflesh]

Come on man, it's a children's song about imagination, fantasy and childhood's end. Reading the lyrics, it seems a real stretch to turn it into a song about drugs once you get past the title...

An afterthought: If there were any *hypothetical* drug symbolism hidden in the lyrics, I would think that it would be referring to heroin or opium rather than marijuana-- "chasing the dragon", anyone?

 

[dyanmite]

when i found out alice in wonderland was about drugs i was very disapointed

 

[Lecarde]

The Caterpillar smokes a hookah while sitting on a mushroom.
haha.
I still like Alice in Wonderland.

 

[toxiciridescence]

http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/puff.htm

Apparently the writers say it was a myth.

I know of stories about drugs (alice in wonderland, the wizard of oz...), but no real songs other than the ones that are just out there and sing the praises.

 

[funyun]

when i found out alice in wonderland was about drugs i was very disapointed

Alice In Wonderland is about drugs? That's like saying Hamlet is about fascists who overthrow the government.

 

[something from the fridge]

is'nt little boy blue about a kid who flashed his willy around?

 

[philN]

Yeah, my mom met one of them at some sort of teacher's conference a few years back and asked and he said it was a myth.

I'd believe the writers over the speculators.

 

[MikeK]

Puff is a cool song no matter what it's about. Poeple who look for reasons not to like something will always be able to find them.

 

[Strange_Wonderer]

http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/puff.htm

Apparently the writers say it was a myth.

Well obviously.

 

[Athanasian Creed]

the song is reffering to smoking pot
do you know anymore hidden messages in songs?

Hmmm.....Beatles

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - About L.S.D. C'mon, Lennon/McCartney had to be pickled when they wrote this song. The imagery is trip-induced for sure ! Extremely psychedelic song.

Magical Mystery Tour - "'Roll' up (a doobie/joint) for the magical mystery tour - The magical mystery tour is waitin' to take you away - Satisfaction guaranteed !!"

A Day in the Life - "He blew his mind out in the car - found my way upstairs and had a smoke, and somebody spoke an i went into a dream (doobie/joint) - four thousand holes and blackened like a (??) and though the holes were small, they had to count them all (heroine o/d)..." Very psychedelic song

The Beatles took so many various drugs they were walking pharmacies !!


Ray

 

[philN]

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - About L.S.D. C'mon, Lennon/McCartney had to be pickled when they wrote this song. The imagery is trip-induced for sure ! Extremely psychedelic song.

Lennon said he wrote the song after his daughter drew a picture that she called 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds'. He consistently said that the song had nothing to do with L.S.D. and that the imagery was trying to bring the picture to life, rather than describe a drug-induced psychedelic journey.

Magical Mystery Tour - "'Roll' up (a doobie/joint) for the magical mystery tour - The magical mystery tour is waitin' to take you away - Satisfaction guaranteed !!"

I guess it's possible. I think it's a bit of a stretch though. I mean, potentially you could say that any time that the word 'roll' is used, it has a drug connection. I guess it's possible, but I'm not convinced necessarily.

A Day in the Life - "He blew his mind out in the car - found my way upstairs and had a smoke, and somebody spoke an i went into a dream (doobie/joint) - four thousand holes and blackened like a (??) and though the holes were small, they had to count them all (heroine o/d)..." Very psychedelic song

Some of those lines are taken out of context. I am pretty sure the part about the holes specfically mentions a place in Britain, which was known to have lots of pot holes or something and they had to be counted. I think the "somebody spoke and I went into a dream..." part could have something to do with drugs, but I think they were referencing historical things in the other verses.

There's a book called A Hard Days Write, which outlines how the lyrics to the Beatles' songs came about. It's been a while, so I don't remember specifics, but I don't think those were specfically drug references. That said, I Am The Walrus was three songs (one written when Lennon was on a trip -- as in drug trip, not a vacation) that Lennon decided to put together to confuse people and make people try and interpret it. It really doesn't mean anything, but he thought it would be funny to frustrate people who liked to read into things. I don't know if that's relevant, but I find it somewhat amusing.

 

[BronxBriar]

The Caterpillar smokes a hookah while sitting on a mushroom.
haha.
I still like Alice in Wonderland.

Put some Grateful Dead on in the background, keep the Jack Daniel's handy, and read away!

 

[faerieevaH]

I once saw a performance of Peter Paul and Mary (on tv) where they talked about this.
The writer said that he had written this sweet song about childhood and fantasies... and then was quite surprised when the critics told him it was about drugs. But... of course he wouldn't DARE to think that 'they' were wrong, so he looked back over the lyrics and to his shock... he discovered they were right and it was about drugs.
And then... he went back to look over his other songs and... good heavens! They were all about drugs too!
And then he went to look at the songs of others and you know what? They were ALL about drugs too... "Oh...C..C C Ride" C from cocaine man!

It's just the same as all these acronyms of sporting or car companies in which you can find fun letterwords. Like Sabena (Belgian airline company that went bankrupt a few years ago.) Clearly SABENA actually means "Such A BAD EXPERIENCE NEVER AGAIN" I think if we took a bit of effort we could find just about any song, even praise songs, and 'prove' that they are about drugs.

 

[simwells]

There aren't many songs by the beatles actually about drugs (I'm not sure if they're are any) although lots of there later stuff was drug induced, songs like i am the Walrus. Why don't we get onto playing songs backwards for the hidden meanings too now

 

[Athanasian Creed]

There aren't many songs by the beatles actually about drugs (I'm not sure if they're are any) although lots of there later stuff was drug induced, songs like i am the Eggman. Why don't we get onto playing songs backwards for the hidden meanings too now

That song's actually "I am the walrus"

My earlier post was regarding their "later stuff" - they were druggies and their songs reflected such.

As far as back-masking, the Beatles were very good at that too, although most of it was done deliberately.


Ray