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Was Puff the Magic Dragon really about drugs?

It's fairly common for theorists to turn their attention to song lyrics and try to find all kinds of hidden messages in them. Sometimes it's so, sometimes not. Puff the Magic Dragon was one such song but songwriter Leonard Lipton says that's not true. Can you think of any songs that contain a hidden message? 

Posted - January 14, 2017

Responses


  • 10049
    I never knew that "Hot Child in the City" was about child prostitution until fairly recently. It made me laugh, as I remember singing along to it when I was about 7 years old!
      January 14, 2017 8:24 PM MST
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  • Just had a look at the lyrics. It can certainly be interpreted that way. Do you know if that was intentional? 
      January 14, 2017 8:29 PM MST
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  • 10049
    Yes, I believe (I heard or read somewhere) that it was a kind of social commentary, the writer was shocked by how very young many of the prostitutes were in LA.

    I've googled for you. :)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Child_in_the_City
      January 14, 2017 8:45 PM MST
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  • Thanks for that. It's very moving. 
      January 14, 2017 8:51 PM MST
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  • 5354
    The story about 'the magic dragon goes back to at least 1936 when Ogden Nash published his poem about Custard the Dragon where there is no inkling of drugs.
    Drugs may have been added later, but I feel no need to think so.

    THE TALE OF CUSTARD THE DRAGON

    By Ogden Nash

    Copyright Linell Nash Smith and Isabel Nash Eberstadt

    Belinda lived in a little white house,
    With a little black kitten and a little gray mouse,
    And a little yellow dog and a little red wagon,
    And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon.

    Now the name of the little black kitten was Ink,
    And the little gray mouse, she called her Blink,
    And the little yellow dog was sharp as Mustard,
    But the dragon was a coward, and she called him Custard.

    Custard the dragon had big sharp teeth,
    And spikes on top of him and scales underneath,
    Mouth like a fireplace, chimney for a nose,
    And realio, trulio, daggers on his toes.

    Belinda was as brave as a barrel full of bears,
    And Ink and Blink chased lions down the stairs,
    Mustard was as brave as a tiger in a rage,
    But Custard cried for a nice safe cage.

    Belinda tickled him, she tickled him unmerciful,
    Ink, Blink and Mustard, they rudely called him Percival,
    They all sat laughing in the little red wagon
    At the realio, trulio, cowardly dragon.

    Belinda giggled till she shook the house,
    And Blink said Week!, which is giggling for a mouse,
    Ink and Mustard rudely asked his age,
    When Custard cried for a nice safe cage.

    Suddenly, suddenly they heard a nasty sound,
    And Mustard growled, and they all looked around.
    Meowch! cried Ink, and Ooh! cried Belinda,
    For there was a pirate, climbing in the winda.

    Pistol in his left hand, pistol in his right,
    And he held in his teeth a cutlass bright,
    His beard was black, one leg was wood;
    It was clear that the pirate meant no good.

    Belinda paled, and she cried, Help! Help!
    But Mustard fled with a terrified yelp,
    Ink trickled down to the bottom of the household,
    And little mouse Blink strategically mouseholed.

    But up jumped Custard, snorting like an engine,
    Clashed his tail like irons in a dungeon,
    With a clatter and a clank and a jangling squirm
    He went at the pirate like a robin at a worm.

    The pirate gaped at Belinda's dragon,
    And gulped some grog from his pocket flagon,
    He fired two bullets but they didn't hit,
    And Custard gobbled him, every bit.

    Belinda embraced him, Mustard licked him,
    No one mourned for his pirate victim
    Ink and Blink in glee did gyrate
    Around the dragon that ate the pyrate.

    Belinda still lives in her little white house,
    With her little black kitten and her little gray mouse,
    And her little yellow dog and her little red wagon,
    And her realio, trulio, little pet dragon.

    Belinda is as brave as a barrel full of bears,
    And Ink and Blink chase lions down the stairs,
    Mustard is as brave as a tiger in a rage,
    But Custard keeps crying for a nice safe cage.
      January 14, 2017 8:32 PM MST
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  • Not true.
    Peter, Paul, and Mary having always been staunch about it not having anything to do with drugs.  Then again it was the 60's so everything was about drugs in some way or the other.
      January 14, 2017 9:03 PM MST
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  • 22891
    not that i know of
      January 15, 2017 4:52 PM MST
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