Peter Paul And Mary Lyrics

Grandpa's iPod

You see, children, when Grandpa was a lad, we didn’t have iPods or iPhones or even Walkmen to store and retrieve our favorite songs. We, most of us, didn’t have huge collections of records, either. So we memorized the songs we heard on the radio, or on the jukebox, or in the local record shop. Hundreds of songs. Thousands, maybe. And we didn’t have to scroll down a list to call them up. Just name the song, or hum a bar, and click! “I got it!” Like most of the kids I grew up with, my love of music and song began at an early age and has never abated. In the 1930s and early 1940s, big-band broadcasts were popular, especially in the Chicago area where we lived: Orrin Tucker, Horace Heidt, Kay Kyser, Sammy Kaye, Guy Lombardo, Xavier Cugat and a bunch of other name bands were regular radio broadcast fare. And we had some swinging vocal groups: the Mills Brothers, the Ink Spots, the Andrews Sisters, Mitch Miller (Mitch Miller? Aw, come on!). And the crooners: Crosby, Sinatra, Bennett, Damone, Dick Haymes, Perry Como, Nat Cole. And the “songbirds”: Martha Tilton, Margaret Whiting, Dinah Shore, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Jo Stafford. But that’s just the pop stuff. One has to remember this was also the era of the folk song (out of Woody Guthrie, Burl Ives, Pete Seeger and the Weavers, amplified by Harry Belafonte and subsequently wrung dry by the likes of the Kingston Trio, the Smothers Brothers, and Peter, Paul and Mary. See Christopher Guest’s marvelous 2003 faux documentary of the folk era “A Mighty Wind.” It was also the era of the musical comedy: from “Showboat” and “Knickerbocker Holiday” to “South Pacific,” “Kiss Me Kate,” “The Music Man” and “Camelot.” From Nelson Eddy and Jeannette McDonald to Ethel Merman, Mary Martin and Julie Andrews. I still think an evening of theater is wasted if you can’t walk out on the street belting one of Ethel or Mary’s show-stoppers.) Also jazz.

Articles 20VN | Puff The Magic Dragon Meant What? | puff the magic ...

Recently, while discussing song titles with a friend , the lyrics of "Puff the Magic Dragon" came up. I innocently recalled as a young girl wanting to strangle that Jackie Paper for leaving Puff sad and alone in his dark, dismal cave. My reminiscing friend, openly laughed at my interpretation and exalted, that the song wasn't about the lost innocence of a child at all. She explained it was about smoking marijuana and getting high from drug use. That intrigued my interest to actually look up the history of my favorite, childhood song.

Having always thought the lyrics were written by Peter, Paul and Mary I was surprised to learn that they were originally based on a 1959 poem written by Leonard Lipton. He was a nineteen year old Cornell University student at the time. Only later was the poem passed on to Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary) who added more lyrics and music to create a song.

Looking into some of the 1960's alleged drug references, I discovered Jackie Paper was considered by some drug suave entrepreneurs, as zigzag rolling papers. "Autumn mist" was interpreted as marijuana smoke and the "Land of Hanah Lee" was in reference to a Hawaiian Island called Hanalei, that was known for it's large amount of marijuana plants. "Puff was the smoking of a joint. "Cherry" was considered the burning ember of a marijuana cigarette, and "Lane" was the cigarettes length.

I tend to believe the original author of the poem Leonard Lipton. He consistently stood by his original statement that the poem he wrote back in 1959 at the age of 19 was indeed a poem of lost childhood. Peter, Paul and Mary have agreed with Mr. Lipton that this is a child's song. They also have conveyed the fact that they could interpret the "Star Spangle Banner" in such a way that it too, could be construed as a drug related song, if they chose.

After briefly researching my childhood favorite, I have come to my own conclusions. I believe that when 19 year old Leonard Lipton first wrote his poem, he was a young man entering a stressful, college world and was faced with the realization that he was no longer a child.

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