Songwriters and Music Lovers
According to tradition, St. Patrick, a 5th Century Christian missionary, chased Ireland's
snakes into the sea. Actually, Ireland never actually had snakes! There's no evidence for
slithering reptiles in Ireland's fossil record.
Likewise, with all the magic inherent in Irish culture, dragons are also gone. And so, this
song is the account of how the last dragon, “Puff”, vanished from the Emerald Island.
"Puff, the Magic Dragon" is based on a 1959 poem by Leonard Lipton, then a 19-year-old
Cornell student. Lipton was inspired by an Ogden Nash poem: "Custard the Dragon",
about a "realio, trulio little pet dragon".
Lipton was friends with Peter Yarrow's housemate when they were all students at Cornell.
He used Yarrow's typewriter to get the poem out of his head. He then forgot about it until
years later, when a friend called and told him Yarrow was looking for him, to give him credit
for the lyrics. On making contact, Yarrow gave Lipton half the songwriting credit, and Lipton
receives royalties to this day.
The original Nash poem had a verse that did not make it into the song. In it, Puff found
another child and played with him after returning. Neither Yarrow nor Lipton remembers the
verse in any detail, and the paper left in Yarrow's typewriter in 1958 has since been lost.
In 1961, Peter Yarrow joined Paul Stookey and Mary Travers to form Peter, Paul and Mary.
The group incorporated the song into their live performances before recording it in 1962 on
an album called “Moving” which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and
spent two weeks atop Billboard’s Easy Listening Chart in early 1963. It also reached
#10 on Billboard's R&B chart.
This live sing-along, performed by “All Mixed Up” at Coolfont Resort in W. Va., includes:
Barry Wendell Rhythm Guitar and Harmony
Ed Schaeffer Lead Vocal and Lead Guitar; Bass
To listen, click: http://rattlesnakehill.org/saintpatrick/saintpatrick.html
Ed
(As always, headphones preferred!)
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