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Controversial 60s folk legend who wrote Puff The Magic Dragon and always denied its meaning is dead at 86
Daily Mail UK ^ | January 7, 2025 | JUSTIN ENRIQUEZ

Posted on 01/07/2025 11:28:03 AM PST by Morgana

Peter Yarrow who was part of the legendary 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul, And Mary who are best known for iconic song Puff The Magic Dragon is dead at 86.

The controversial musician passed away after battling bladder cancer for four years his publicist confirmed.

He was the lead vocalist of the hit track Puff The Magic Dragon - which was released in 1960 - as he denied that the song was about drugs for years which is what many had believed.

Yarrow staunchly denied that it was about drug taking and has maintained that the actual meaning of the song is about the hardships of growing up.

The musician has previously said that the song 'never had any meaning other than the obvious one' and is about the 'loss of innocence in children.'

Yarrow had also been embroiled in controversy as he was sentenced to three months in jail over a 1969 incident in which the 14-year-old and her 17-year-old sister went to his hotel seeking an autograph and he answered the door naked.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: 60s; peterpaulandmary; peteryarrow; puffthemagicdragon
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To: Morgana

Oh, Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea


“Sea” was really the letter “C” which stands for “Cocaine”.


21 posted on 01/07/2025 11:41:59 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator
I always liked 1962's "500 Miles." Both "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "500 Miles" are sorrowful, bittersweet love songs.

I can't listen to Mary Travers sing "500 Miles" without shivers down my neck and spine. Their harmonies and her crystalline voice are incredible. From YouTube:

Lyrically, "500 Miles" tells a story of longing and determination. The protagonist expresses their willingness to go the distance, traveling 500 miles, just to be with the one they love. The simplicity and sincerity of the lyrics resonate with listeners, evoking feelings of yearning and devotion.

The stripped-down arrangement of the song allows the vocals to take center stage. The gentle strumming of the acoustic guitar and occasional harmonica accents provide a melodic backdrop that supports the emotional weight of the lyrics. The simplicity of the instrumentation enhances the intimacy of the song and adds to its timeless appeal.


22 posted on 01/07/2025 11:42:08 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (Marxism is a politics for the ugly, unwanted, uneducated, unhealthy, and insane.)
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To: Morgana

Puff the Magic Dragon — about drugs? Pshaw! Next they’ll claim that Amphetamine Annie is about drugs.


23 posted on 01/07/2025 11:42:51 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: Morgana

Another dead pedo, then.


24 posted on 01/07/2025 11:43:30 AM PST by CletusVanDamme (You always said you'd take real good care of me, didn't you George. Here's one rap you won't beat.)
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To: dfwgator

Also, I had no idea “Leaving On A Jet Plane” was written by John Denver!


25 posted on 01/07/2025 11:43:46 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (Marxism is a politics for the ugly, unwanted, uneducated, unhealthy, and insane.)
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To: Morgana

Hi.

C 130. Full of fire and brimstone.

5.56mm


26 posted on 01/07/2025 11:45:45 AM PST by M Kehoe (Thank you Jesus. )
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To: Red Badger

I’ve heard that it’s very common.

I do 100-150 hotel nights a year. I sometimes worry about opening the wrong door at 3am on the way to the bathroom.


27 posted on 01/07/2025 11:46:48 AM PST by cyclotic (Don’t be part of the problem. Be the entire problem)
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To: fidelis

This is somewhat of a rewriting of history by someone who probably wasn’t there.

Nobody back in the early to mid 60s had any serious belief that the song was about drugs.

I knew it through a regular feature on Captain Kangaroo where an artist would sketch scenes of the song as it played. No way the good Captain would have permitted that if the song was about drugs.

No, the song was a good, clean, wholesome song about shooting VC out the side door of a C-47.


28 posted on 01/07/2025 11:47:04 AM PST by Flash Bazbeaux
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To: Red Badger

“..I had to go to the lobby and get the mgr to come open the door and get my ID.................”

LOL...yep! Strange things happen sometimes.
Back in my college days, I got liquored-up one night and tried to give some frat boys some BS while drunk as a skunk. They finally had enough, ganged up on me, stripped me bare-butt naked, tied me up and gagged me, wrapped me up in an old throw rug, and then stuck me in one of those old-fashion telephone booths with the sliding door in the downtown area of a major metropolitan city....
The look on the cops’ faces when they finally managed to pull the rug, and me, out of the phone booth and unrolled it was priceless. I was arrested for “indecent exposure” but was let off by the judge once he heard the whole story.
FWIW, I think I had one of the worst hangovers in my life that weekend.
Man, that was ages ago....how time flies....LOL


29 posted on 01/07/2025 11:47:50 AM PST by lgjhn23 ("On the 8th day, Satan created the progressive liberal to destroy all the good that God created..." )
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To: Morgana

I immediately thought of Rush playing “Barack the Magic Negro.”


30 posted on 01/07/2025 11:48:31 AM PST by vaskypilot
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To: cyclotic

This was in 1977, and the door automatically locked when I stepped out into the outdoor hallway to get some ice at the ice machine which was outside my door..........


31 posted on 01/07/2025 11:48:46 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Morgana

I remember My sister playing it on her guitar when I was 4 or 5 years old.

Back before she got stupid and voted for the commies and believed the J6 committee of corruption and A$$M€D!A !!! I haven’t had any contact with her since then.


32 posted on 01/07/2025 11:48:46 AM PST by mabarker1 ( (Congress- the opposite of PROGRESS!!! A fraud, a hypocrite, a liar. I'm a member of Congress!!!)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

“Also, I had no idea “Leaving On A Jet Plane” was written by John Denver!”

There is a video out there of a very young John Denver and PP&M performing the song. Was before they had hit it big. The backdrop behind them is a simple white sheet on a line.


33 posted on 01/07/2025 11:49:42 AM PST by nomorelurker
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To: fidelis

https://youtu.be/Tz4ZOr-RUuo?si=4j_Ad4lhnWtqwHU4&t=11


34 posted on 01/07/2025 11:51:35 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: cyclotic

How common is this?

—-
Barbara Winter, who was 14-years-old at the time, said that Yarrow had made her masturbate him until he ejaculated and he ultimately served three months of a one to three year prison sentence.

He had apologized for the incident as he explained: ‘It was an era of real indiscretion and mistakes by categorically male performers. I was one of them. I got nailed. I was wrong. I’m sorry for it.’

Former president Jimmy Carter pardoned Yarrow in 1981 the day before his presidency ended.
—-


35 posted on 01/07/2025 11:52:08 AM PST by Rastus
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To: Nextrush

Yes, Yarrow was pardoned by Jimmy Carter, who now somehow is entitled to a three day funeral in DC at the taxpayers expense; I remember waiting 8 hours in line to see Reagan lie in state and he was only there for one day. There seems to be an inverse relationship between what a President accomplished (Reagan) and what they deserve in adulation (Carter, who aside from airline deregulation, did nothing positive in my view).


36 posted on 01/07/2025 11:52:44 AM PST by laconic ( )
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To: Morgana

Child moles for who was pardoned by Jimmy Carter.

Carter, president who pardoned a child rapist.


37 posted on 01/07/2025 11:54:32 AM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: nomorelurker
PP&M hit it big several years before that:
"Peter, Paul and Mary" is the debut studio album by American folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, released in May 1962 on Warner Bros. Records....it is one of the rare folk albums to reach No. 1 on the Billboard chart in the US, where it remained for over a month. The lead-off singles "If I Had a Hammer" and "Lemon Tree" reached numbers 10 and 35 respectively on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. It was the group's biggest selling studio album, eventually certified Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for U.S. sales of more than two million copies.
I also learned that they were a "created" group (like The Monkees a bit after them)...
b>Manager Albert Grossman created Peter, Paul and Mary in 1961, after auditioning several singers in the New York folk scene, including Dave Van Ronk, who was rejected as too idiosyncratic and uncommercial, and Carolyn Hester. After rehearsing Yarrow, Stookey and Travers out of town in Boston and Miami, Grossman booked them into The Bitter End, a coffee house, nightclub and popular folk music venue in New York City's Greenwich Village.
I had no idea about that, either.
38 posted on 01/07/2025 11:54:58 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (Marxism is a politics for the ugly, unwanted, uneducated, unhealthy, and insane.)
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder

>>> Can you imagine being in a band and having to play that tune 5,000,000 times? <<<

“Routine is the enemy of passion”
-Andreas Vollenweider on why he stopped performing for 20 years.


39 posted on 01/07/2025 11:55:06 AM PST by zeebee
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To: Morgana

Rest In Peace, Peter.


40 posted on 01/07/2025 11:55:30 AM PST by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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