So, my daughter asked me tonight if Puff the Magic Dragon is a sad song, and to explain why. She's six. Oh, boy. As far back as I can remember, that song has made me cry. When I was a kid, it was just sad. Now that I'm an adult, it's gut-wrenchingly, heart-rendingly sad. So, there I am, lying in the bed with her, trying my best not to bawl uncontrollably while explaining that Puff is a metaphor (and explaining what a metaphor is). Tears are streaming down my face onto the pillow, and I can barely squeak out answers to her questions.
I felt like such a sap that I had to go Google to see if there's a clinical name for my Puff the Magic Dragon disorder. I was somewhat relieved that Google auto-completed "Puff the Magic Dragon makes me cry" from just "Puff Dragon mak". There I was looking a page full of links to articles from people professing the same illness. I am not alone.
In that list of links, I found two things I wasn't expecting to find. The first is this post from the original author of the poem that became the song. Lenny explains the original inspiration for the poem/song (Ogden Nash's Custard the Cowardly Dragon, which I also love) and convincingly debunks the pot myth. The second was this article, which professes to have the cure for my disease. Apparently Peter Yarrow had a daughter who has also afflicted, and so he published a Puff book that adds a happy ending. I'm incredulous that anything can save me from that song, but the book looks beautiful, and it's worth a try. I'll let you know how it goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment