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29 Jul 03 - 03:29 AM (#992466) Subject: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST,Hutzulka Chicago's great radio folk music show "The Midnight Special" played a version of "Puff" last Saturday night. I was in the car and couldn't get the lyrics down. This version has an additional final verse about Jackie Paper's daughter, Sophie, finding Puff's cave. I'm only looking for that last verse. Thanks. |
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29 Jul 03 - 03:54 AM (#992472) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST See this thread |
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29 Jul 03 - 04:41 AM (#992492) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST,Hutzulka I've checked all the links I could find. The verse I'm looking for names the child Sophie, at first she is startled and frightened by Puff, but then . . . . |
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29 Jul 03 - 08:42 AM (#992579) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca I haven't found the words. BUT, I located the Midnight Special Playlist for July 26th. It said that the twelfth selection was 12. Amber McInnis: Puff, the Magic Dragon (Happy Ending) At least this gives us a starting point. |
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29 Jul 03 - 09:16 AM (#992615) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca That helped a lot From Hunting of the Last Dragon ... During my years of teaching preschool, I got to share that dragon song with a new generation of dragon-fanatics. I love the two additional verses, added years later, that I'd learned from Amber McInnis' version on Music For Little People's "Family Folk Festival":
Jackie's daughter Sophie went adventuring one day. Happily she wandered down the misty beach alone. And passing by a hidden cave, she heard a muffled groan. Bravely Sophie slipped into the place where Puff did dwell. The startled dragon spun around and frightened her as well. Then she saw his lonely eyes, and quickly lost her fears. She kissed the dragon's scaly nose and wiped away his tears." ... But wait. I knew I'd heard a version of "Puff" with a happy ending somewhere. WFMT host Rich Warren helped me find it on "Family Folk Festival," a 1990 compilation CD. And despite the low esteem in which the hackneyed "Puff" is held by serious musicians, Warren has agreed to play the "Family Folk Festival" version, sung by 11-year-old Amber McInnis, Saturday on his "Midnight Special" program (from 9 p.m. to midnight, WFMT-FM 98.7): Jackie he got married, and they had a little babe. Jackie's daughter Sophie went adventuring one day. Happily she wandered down the misty beach alone. And passing by a hidden cave, she heard a muffled groan. Bravely Sophie slipped into the place where Puff did dwell. The startled dragon spun around and frightened her as well. Then she saw his lonely eyes, and quickly lost her fears. She kissed the dragon's scaly nose and wiped away his tears. The liner notes credit Yarrow with the lyrics, but Yarrow, through a spokesman, said Friday that the above is "not an official or sanctioned last verse." He said he's not bothered by the improvisation and that "literally hundreds of people have written their own last verses, and each last verse inevitably has inherent in it the desire for Puff to find another child to play with." |
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29 Jul 03 - 09:22 AM (#992628) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: McGrath of Harlow But then she grows up... Happy endings are just a matter of when you stop telling the story. |
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29 Jul 03 - 09:27 AM (#992633) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: Blackcatter Happy endings, on songs that didn't have them, suck. Who has written an ending that finally lets Puff die with dignity? |
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29 Jul 03 - 02:16 PM (#992645) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: McGrath of Harlow Couldn't be done - "Dragons live forever!" |
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29 Jul 03 - 02:41 PM (#992665) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST,Hutzulka George, thank you so much. That's the one! All you guys on the dark side, take a Zoloft and enjoy a happy ending once or twice :) I put in the happy face so you don't have to bother slamming me. |
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29 Jul 03 - 03:01 PM (#992679) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: Amergin I dunno...I rprefer the happy ending...and find comofrt that poor puff will have generations of jackie papper's descendants to play with.... |
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29 Jul 03 - 03:58 PM (#992727) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca I also enjoy the happy endings. Glad we could help you, Hutzulka. Come and share again. |
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29 Jul 03 - 04:41 PM (#992772) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: JedMarum What's unhappy about the original ending? |
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30 Jul 03 - 01:09 AM (#993084) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: Blackcatter Nothing if you like to see other people get weepy eyed at the end. So instead of dying, Puff lives forever depressed and forlorn. Woo-hoo! Thread Drift: Anyone ever been to the land of Honalee? I have. |
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30 Jul 03 - 04:29 AM (#993138) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: Cllr I thought it was about drugs, I mean they banned it in Singapore because of drug refrences. SO it must have been ,Right? Cllr |
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30 Jul 03 - 07:26 AM (#993228) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca The Related Threads up at the top left out this thread where the origins of the song are given.... Puff the Magic Dragon - Origin |
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30 Jul 03 - 10:02 AM (#993335) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: McGrath of Harlow But "happy endings" do tend to make people weepy-eyed, at least as we get older. Maybe it's because we realise they are always provisional. |
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30 Jul 03 - 12:38 PM (#993496) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: JedMarum a dragon lives forever but no so little boys painted rings and giant rings make way for other toys one gray night it happened jackie paper came no more so puff that mighty dragon he ceased his fearless roar his head was bent in sorrow green scales fell like rain puf no lonegr went to play laong the cherry lane with out his lifelong friend puff could not breva so puff tha mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave ______________________________ ... describes a perfectly normal passage in life from one stage to the next. No lasting sadness here. Jacks' grown up and put aside his toys and childhood fantasies - Puff being one of those fantasies drifts from view ... but we all know Jack is not the only child, and Puff, living forever in a magic land will not be sad forever - he's noble and lyal, so when jack goes he MUST be sad - but there are millions of children and Puff will befriend many many others along the way, no doubt being as loyal and loving to each ... where's the sad ending?? ;-) |
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30 Jul 03 - 01:58 PM (#993570) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca Umm, last two lines? |
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30 Jul 03 - 06:58 PM (#993782) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: Blackcatter Not to belabor the point but, "but we all know Jack is not the only child, and Puff, living forever in a magic land will not be sad forever" This depends entirely on interpreting the song is a larger sense. Reading the lyrics as written there is no implication of other children connecting with Puff. "but there are millions of children and Puff will befriend many many others along the way, no doubt being as loyal and loving to each" That may be true enough, but it's only an assumption. Most everyone I've talked with about this song (and I was part of a folk ensemble that performed this song in nearly every concert for 5 years) interprets it as a sad ending. If Peter Yarrow wanted that positive ending he would have written it. Now I know that in recent concerts - such as the one that is always playing during my PBS stations pledge pleadings - they sing the last courus as: Puff the Magic Dragon lives by the sea. I remember quite clearly Mary singing the word lives loudly. So, they have changed the ending. --------------- And then what's all this about it being a song about drugs? I remember that from when I was a kid but no one ever explained it well. pax yall |
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30 Jul 03 - 07:39 PM (#993810) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST The sad part is looking at the song and picturing your own children as Jackie. It's damn sad to watch them grow out of such innocence as make-believe and playing with dragons. I wish it COULD last longer than it does. How can this song NOT be sad when you apply it to your own life? |
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30 Jul 03 - 11:46 PM (#993935) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: JedMarum hmmmm ... Puff is sad at the end of the song. That does not make a sad ending to the song. I don't think Peter Yarrow is sad about the story ... we all might feel a tug at a child learning that Santa Claus is not real - but the whole childhood Santa thing is not a sad story. You know I'm only half serious about the discussion, but I really never did see this song as a sad tale, or one with a sad ending. I don;t think it's supposed to be ... And positive?? Of course it's a positive ending, even if you think it's a sad ending, surely you must agree that it is positive? Do we want poor Jackie playing with dragons all his life? |
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31 Jul 03 - 12:07 AM (#993944) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: JedMarum I saw Peter denounce that 'drugs' theory pretty convincingly at a concert in the 70's ... but with his later conviction on sex with a child, I am sure there are folks who'd see a more sinister sub-plot to the song. I think it's plain and simple; a song about growing up, leaving behind the toys and fantasies of a child. It's a lovely song and doesn't need analysis or correcting! |
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31 Jul 03 - 01:42 AM (#993970) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: Blackcatter If you like to play with toys as an adult - what's wrong with that? Many adults have animal playthings - instead of imaginary ones, people have living pets. On top of that, in the Pagan world there is the concept of unseen familiars or spirits that people can connect with. a dragon is a common form of that type of spirit. Yet most of the people who enjoy those types of relationships are grown-up and working, raising families, etc. I feel sorry for all people who have completely lost their childish wonder. |
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31 Jul 03 - 07:50 AM (#994078) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: Jeri Jed, Puff was real in the song, and he was sad. That's what's sad about the song. When I was a kid, I identified with Puff and I felt very bad for him. Puff existed because Jackie believed in him. He didn't disappear when Jackie quit visiting, he just became sad. This says to me that Jackie still had dreams and fantasies, that he still had an imagination and he remembered Puff, but he'd been forced to abandon those things. (Probably forced by his parents to "quit all that day-dreaming and get back to your math homework!" If Puff was a creation of Jackie's imagination, then Jackie was also sad. It may be true that we're all a bit sad when we have to move on to whatever's next. We don't have to completely give up our imaginations when we grow up though, no matter what some people tell us. Our imaginations grow with us. Jackie could have imagined Puff happy and doing something else, but the figurative door in the song just seemed to slam shut. Jackie would have imagined a different ending if leaving Puff was just a normal part of growing. He imagined Puff as sad and lonely though because that part of Jackie was sad and lonely. Maybe the point of the song was to make kids and adults think about what they lose when they abandon imagination in the mistaken thought that imagination is for younger people. |
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08 Dec 03 - 02:31 PM (#1067920) Subject: Puff - extra verse From: GUEST,elizabethblock@netzero.net I once heard a new verse of Puff the Magic Dragon, written by the original authors, in which another child - a girl this time - comes to Puff's cave and gives him a new lease on life. Does anyone know it? Elizabeth Block, Toronto, Canada
-Joe Offer (e-mail sent)- |
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23 Oct 04 - 12:54 AM (#1304509) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST,A child I love these debates...absolutely. With so much going on in the world and in each person's individual lives, the little insane things keep us from going completely nuts: debating the meaning, sybolism, and merit of a nursery rhyme. Love it. |
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23 Oct 04 - 08:49 AM (#1304696) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: breezy if his 'scales fell like rain' then did they regenerate.? What does a dragon without scales, look and feel like.? just a thought. |
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23 Oct 04 - 01:33 PM (#1304886) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: Cool Beans I, too, love the intelligence and fervor of this debate. There's something instinctual about revisionism, isn't there, about the desire to change literature, even reality, to slap on a happy ending and put on a happy face. In centuries past, Shakespeare was a target; Serious playwrights put happy endings on "Romeo and Juliet" and "King Lear." Ugh! My beloved ex-wife hated that Mr. Bojangles' dog "up and died" (that song is sad enough) and would change that verse whenever she sang it.I can't remember, though, what alterations she wrought to make it OK. Sing your songs any way you want, but appreciate that there's value in melancholy, longing, and desires unfulfillled. As Shelley wrote in "To a Skylark" (1819), "Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoght." |
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15 Dec 04 - 02:40 PM (#1357830) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST,Dano Jeri has hit it right on the head as far as I'm concerned. Just because we grow older does not mean we cannot dream, be thoughtful or youthful in our daily activities and thought. I, for one, do not intend to EVER grow up! |
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03 Dec 05 - 12:48 PM (#1619339) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: Puff The Magic Dragon book 'em Dano ha ha ha ha |
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10 Aug 10 - 07:52 AM (#2961902) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST Children love adventure, games for bold and brave Soon daniel drum and johny plum had found puff's magic cave With coloured flags all waiving, they frolic by the shore And children come from miles around to hear Puff's mighty roar |
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10 Aug 10 - 08:17 AM (#2961924) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST OK, OK, OK can't we just agree that the bloody dragon needs therapy? There aren't too many therapists who specialise in dragons (even in the USA as they're too busy with Lindsay Lohan and the rest of the Hollywood set). Jack Paper has an obligation, as I see it, to look after the dragon rather than just dump him when he's finished with him - how crass is that? I mean, do Dragons have social workers? (In UK, everyone else has - all he has to do is prove he doesn't belong here and is in danger wherever else he might go - they'll even refurbish his cave and give him money to go into business). Failing that, tell him to 'get over it' - life is just NOT that bleak if you're a dragon. Maggie Thatcher did quite well . . . Anyway, lunchtime is over and I've got to stop thinking about the under-privileged. |
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14 Nov 10 - 11:22 PM (#3032351) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: Genie FWIW, in that last added verse it should be "... flags all waving ... ". Unless they were "waiving" their flags to dissociate themselves from nationalism? |
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14 Nov 10 - 11:33 PM (#3032355) Subject: Lyr Add: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: Genie This is my favorite of the happy endings. I forgot the name of the guy who wrote it but I can maybe post it later. This maybe a slight paraphrase except for the last line: Many summers later as Puff walked along the strand He looked down and saw some small footprints in the sand. A voice said, "Mr. Dragon, please don't be so sad. My name is Jenny Paper and I was sent here by my dad." |
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15 Nov 10 - 02:43 AM (#3032405) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: Rob Naylor Why should anyone add a happy ending? It's supposed to have a sad ending, FFS! |
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03 Jul 11 - 11:48 PM (#3181049) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST i learned another happy ending to puff the magic dragon from my friend, who said that he saw peter, paul, and mary do it live but people didn't like it so thy stopped doing it from then after. my friend did manage to memorize the lyrics, and i memorized them from him. One bright, shiny morning as Puff walked down the strand a little girl walked up to him and said, "Here take my hand. Come now, Mr. Dragon. Don't you look so sad. My name is Jenny Paper, I was sent here by my dad" |
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05 Oct 11 - 04:12 PM (#3234464) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST,grand ma so this is all great info but was a happy last verse ever recorded and where would I find it My 4 year old grand son is upset that the dragon was left alone. |
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06 Oct 11 - 07:18 AM (#3234754) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: Rob Naylor And so he should be....it's part of the tapestry of growing up to learn about, and learn about dealing with, sadness and loss. I find it depressing that so many people these days seem to go all out to protect their youngsters from anything that shows life's rough edges or less-than-totally-upbeat elements. |
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17 Oct 11 - 06:40 AM (#3240135) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST,Guest My favorate is this one Young ones love adventure, games for bold and brave Soon Daniel Drum and Johny Plum had found puff's magic cave With coloured flags a waving, they dance upon the shore And children come from miles around to hear Puff's mighty roar Thank you all for taking an interest. It makes me feel much better. Puff |
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28 Oct 12 - 03:04 AM (#3427177) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST,Oblivion's Angel What I think is even if someone adds a happy ending, it will still turn out sad because every child Puff befriends will eventually grow up and leave him, and break his heard into smaller and smaller pieces. I prefer to leave the song as it is and leave his heart broken only in two, instead of broken into a million different pieces. |
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23 Feb 15 - 09:07 PM (#3689274) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST,Jerry I heard a fellow sing Puff @ Gryphon Music in Palo Alto @ their Christmas Party about 30 or 40 years or so ago & he sang the last verse that i think that he wrote. It was that Jackie had a son & came along some how & started playing with Puff & he was so happy. I believe that this fellow lived somewhere on the peninsula. I have always wanted to get that last verse from him. I believe that he had sent a copy to Peter Paul & Mary & they were not interested in it. I would love to get a copy of that verse. Jerrymic@msn.com Thank U. |
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24 Nov 16 - 07:24 AM (#3822424) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST,Greg I don't know... when I was a little kid this song used to break 'my' heart into a million peices. I'm a jolly grown up 46 years of age now and I hadn't heard this song in maybe a couple of decades until it came up in... wait for it... a dream I had last night. Puff was there and he was 'my' best friend and we were joyful in a world without pressure, taxes, work and mortgage payments. I woke up this morning and I was all over the place... there was a sad ending my dream hadn't taken into account. Poor Puff! And I found myself missing him! I can attest to the fact that my imagination, although frequently stifled by the pressures of modern living, is as vivid, powerful and fantastic as it was when I used to sing of frolicking in the Autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee. The saddest thing for Puff is of course that his immortality prevented him from maturing alongside his best friend and also that the separation appears to have been instantaneous and without warning. What a shock for a magic dragon that must have been. The truth is that we all end up putting away childish things and forgetting (for the most part) our innocence. It's one of the many terrible features of mortality. As with any work of literature, we will analyse and discover countless hidden meanings the original author hadn't intended at the time of writing. Who could have ever imagined how much life those few lines would have breathed into this figment of a youthful imagination. And on the subject of imagination, we should remember that Puff was not a real dragon in the poem. There is a line which reads: Painted wings and giant strings make way for other toys So Puff was a toy in the poem, some kind of marionette by the sounds of it. The cave he sadly slipped into was doubtless a toy box. The only place he was real was in our hearts, and according to the dream I had last night, he lives on in happiness. |
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09 Apr 17 - 11:33 AM (#3849666) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST,AWD I'm so happy to find this ending I cannot tell you! I was scarred for life when at four I first heard the official version of the song and bawled the entire rest of my birthday! (so can't watch movies like Pete's Dragon without loosing it!) Only this year did I hear a radio interview with a surviving member of Peter Paul and Mary, (or perhaps one of their kids) who revealed that there WAS a final verse they had practiced in which Puff becomes friends with Jackie's child, but the producers thought the song was too long, so they only recorded it up to the sad ending, leaving a lifetime of tears for me (and others?) until I heard that Puff had been meant to find a new friend... :D |
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20 Jul 19 - 01:26 PM (#4001302) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST,Logan I know this is an old thread but my son was sad about Puff so I sang a different ending. This song made me sad when I first heard it as a kid too and although I understand learning about the sadness of the end of innocence now that I have a child I know about NEW innocence and learning as a parent to help keep that innocence alive as long as possible so Well little Jackie Paper he met a pretty lass And together they had a little boy who had a lot of sass Little Jackie Jr well he found that rascal Puff and brought him wings and movie tapes and other fancy stuff (Chorus) Jackie Jr and mighty Puff, they became fast friends And Puff realized that when there’s love friendship never ends With his faith restored Puff could roar once more And now with all his future friends he’ll be brave forever more. When I finish the song I make it present tense. Puff the magic dragon LIVES by the sea and FROLICS in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee. |
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22 Jul 19 - 09:00 AM (#4001546) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: Mrrzy Gotta say, some things are sad and sorrow is normal and making happy endings on everything "for the children" does those children a terrible disservice. Sorrow is not bad, it just needs to be dealt with. The Little Mermaid should have died like in the story, too. Raise resilient kids, don't shelter them from their own emotions. How will they deal, for instance, with your death? |
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03 May 21 - 07:41 PM (#4104583) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST,Steve in Florida Thank you for the collection of happy lyrics. I'm crying. I sing that song often and I wanted to have a happy ending.... and a forever joyful tone. Thank you |
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04 May 21 - 12:22 PM (#4104712) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: John C. Bunnell WARNING: PEDANTRY INCOMING! On reading back in the thread, I'm struck by guest Greg's assertion back in '16 that Puff is not real in the song on the basis of the "paper wings and giant strings" reference. I'm thereby prompted to put on my English-major hat and take a close look at the text in an effort to properly settle this point. Let's first note that for the most part, the song's point of view is neither Jackie's or Puff's. The writer says specifically that
To the external observer, what's interesting here is that Puff is called a "rascal". This is not a word you'd expect Jackie to use to describe a loved one. A pet, maybe yes, but Puff of the song is clearly Jackie's equal partner in adventure {"Together they would travel"), not a mere companion or sidekick. There's room for considerable debate on the location and geography of Honalee (the details we have being ambiguous in the extreme), but we'll bypass that and move straight on to the key verse. The two lines in question are these: "A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys; Paper wings and [giant strings] make way for other toys" I've bracketed the phrase above because the DigiTrad lyrics render it as "giants' rings", which is (a) not how I've seen the line rendered in most other sources, and (b) interesting as all heck to us textual analysts, especially in the present context. For our purposes, though, that's a digression. What's noteworthy is that these lines are general, not specific. Nothing in the text actually claims that Puff was made of strings, rings, sealing wax, paint, and/or anything else. Greg suggests that based on these lines, Puff must have been a puppet or marionette. There's at least as good a case, I'd think, for inferring a kite from the items listed (unless "giants' rings" is the right lyric after all). But either of these theories raises a serious textual problem. Both postulate a mode of play in which Jackie is manipulating Puff, either from the ground (if he's flying a kite) or by hand (if Puff is a puppet or marionette). This is at direct odds with the style of interaction described in the prior verse - not merely do Puff and Jackie travel "together", but they both ride "on a boat with billowed sail", and Jackie perches on "Puff's gigantic tail". (This does imply an improbably large boat, but then again that would explain why royalty might bow down on said boat's arrival in their waters.) Clearly, it's a long stretch to identify Puff himself with the paper and strings (or rings) of these lines. Moreover, the subsequent verse returns to the direct viewpoint, reporting: "His head was bent in sorrow; green scales fell like rain;" It scarcely needs saying that a toy dragon of the paper-and-string sort is unlikely to possess genuine scales, let alone enough of them to "fall like rain". That would seem to confirm clearly that Puff must be regarded as real, not imaginary... ...and yet, there's one word in this last canonical verse that hits an odd note. "Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave," "Lifelong" reads very strangely here, especially given that we're also told straight out that "a dragon lives forever". If Puff is immortal, then it's clearly not possible for Jackie to be his "lifelong" friend, even if we extend "lifelong" to include Jackie's adult years. The alternative case, that the word refers to the length of Jackie's life, is worrisome; by that interpretation, we'd need to read "Jackie Paper came no more" as a reference to his death, presumably in childhood. And whereas that reading supports Puff's existence independent of Jackie, it leaves the song with a decidedly downbeat ending - though one with some room for hope, provided the final chorus is sung with "lives" in the present tense. Note too that if we view "lifelong" in this context, none of the added verses featuring a child of Jackie's - whether Jenny or Jackie Jr. - can be regarded as accurate, though the "Daniel Drum/Johnny Plum" scenario remains possible. However.... If we look at the song from a folklorist's perspective, it seems likely to me that the word "lifelong" amounts to a transcription error or mishearing of some kind on the part of the song's original collectors, precisely because it supplies a detail that cuts against nearly all the other elements of the song. I'd be tempted to substitute either "loyal" or "loving" as likelier choices (or "stalwart" if I had any evidence from other Honalee-based sources to support it) in performance, any of which would permit the inclusion of the disputed Jenny/Jackie Jr. verses - which I think we must regard in the same context as the dozens, nay hundreds, of post-Doyle Watsonian manuscripts relating apocryphal Sherlock Holmes adventures. END PEDANTRY ALERT |
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04 May 21 - 01:31 PM (#4104721) Subject: Lyr Add: PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON (Lipton/Yarrow) From: Joe Offer Ah, John C. Bunnell, your pedantry is delicious.
Here are the lyrics, copied from the Peter Paul and Mary Website. You will notice that the Website lyrics use "painted wings and giant rings." The Digital Tradition uses "painted wings and giant's rings," which is the wording I prefer.
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06 Jun 23 - 09:07 PM (#4173986) Subject: RE: Origins: Puff the Magic Dragon Happy Ending From: GUEST,Adele As someone who genuinely disliked the sad plot twist in this song as a child (and still sort of does as an adult), I think the best way to give this song a happy ending is just to not sing the last two verses. I myself would have actually preferred that the song stop in the middle (or tell of more things that Puff and Jackie could have done together). |