bloodyrosemccoy: (Dancing)
bloodyrosemccoy ([personal profile] bloodyrosemccoy) wrote2015-12-04 12:34 am

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

Okay, guys, this has driven me nuts for forever. Maybe it's patently obvious to other people, but this burning question is one that I must find the answer to:

How the hell is "Puff the Magic Dragon" supposed to be about drugs?

I mean, yes, the name is "Puff," which is a thing you do with marijuana, and I suppose you COULD suggest that "Jackie Paper" refers to rolling papers, but ... if you want to suggest that it's a metaphor, well, it's a really SHITTY metaphor. This isn't like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," where the nonsense John Lennon is blathering on about could easily be an acid trip. "Puff" has a completely obvious story about a whimsical imaginary friend who is left behind when a child grows up.* I just--well, try as I might, I just CAN'T make the idea of "Hurr hurr drugs" fit into the song.

But I've always been shit at poetry analysis, and all the drugs I take are from the pharmacy, so maybe I'm missing something. Can someone enlighten me as to this myster? It has tormented me for YEARS.


*Though Pixar does that better than anybody, and does it at LEAST twice.

[identity profile] hrhleia.livejournal.com 2015-12-04 02:28 pm (UTC)(link)
YES THANK YOU. I never understood this either.