Puff the Magic Dragon is an enchanted dragon created by the folk rock group Peter, Paul and Mary for their 1963 album "Moving". The song lyrics follows the story of Puff, a magical dragon who lives and frolics in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.
The song reached Number 2 on the charts nationally on May 11, 1963 and has since become a favorite song to sing to children. Over the years, the popularity of Puff the Dragon has been fodder for a number of books, movies, stage plays and TV specials. On television, Puff the Magic Dragon appeared in three 30-minute animated TV specials.
Narrated by veteran actor Burgess Meredith, the TV specials had Puff the Magic Dragon visit various children and help them solve their problems.
In Puff the Magic Dragon (1978), Puff visits a shy, withdrawn boy named Jackie Draper and takes him on a magical adventure across the sea in a sailboat. Along the journey Jackie meet pirates and learns a valuable lesson about courage.
In The Land of Living Lies (1979) Puff helps a young girl who uses her vivid imagination (she lies a lot) to escape the problems of her troubled home Puff takes her to the "Land of Living Lies" where she meets such famous tellers of untruth as the boy who cried wolf and Pinocchio.
In Puff and the Incredible Mr. Nobody (1982), Puff the magic dragon teaches a boy to believe in his own creative abilities.
Puff the Magic Dragon
(Lyrics by Peter Yarrow/Leonard Lipton)
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff,
and brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff. Oh!
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.
Together they would travel on a 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 flag when Puff roared out his name.
Oh!
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.
A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant 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.
His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, Puff could not be brave,
So Puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave. Oh!
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.
NOTE: In the 1960s, The Douglas AC-47, a World War II Douglas C-47D conversion gunship, was nicknamed Puff the Magic Dragon, Puff or Spooky during the Vietnam War. The plane’s row of three SUU-11A 7.62mm mini-guns fired 6,000 round per minute.
Over the years, other aircraft has bore the same named like a Navy A-6 Intruder fighter jet (A-6E #159314) that sported the artwork of a fire-breathing dragon under its cockpit.
Puff the Magic Dragon
c/o The Land of Honah Lee
Puff the Magic Dragon (1978) (IMDB)
Puff the Magic Dragon – Cartoon Special (Video)
Puff the Magic Dragon in the Land of Living Lies (1979) (IMDB)
Puff the Magic Dragon in the Land of Living Lies – Cartoon Special (Video)
Puff and the Incredible Mr. Nobody (1982) (IMDB)
Puff and the Incredible Mr. Nobody – Cartoon Special (Video)
Born in Philadelphia, Jerome Alphonse Holst worked 30 years as a librarian. He has since retired and lives in Thomasville, North Carolina. Mr. Holst is also the author of the children’s books “Norman the Troll,” "Norman the Troll and the Haunted House," and "Gretchen and the Gremlins." In addition, he penned the fantasy novel “The Adventures of Glinda Gale,” a retelling of “The Wizard of Oz" and the reference text “The Encyclopedia of Movie and TV Insults.” .
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