Editing Puff, the Magic Dragon (section)

==Lyrics==
The lyrics for "Puff, the Magic Dragon" are based on a 1959 poem by Leonard Lipton, then a 19-year-old [[Cornell University]] student.<ref name="Lipton"/> Lipton drew inspiration from [[Ogden Nash]]'s poem "[[The Tale of Custard the Dragon]]".<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/Custard.html |first = Ogden |last = Nash |title = The Tale of Custard the Dragon |publisher = Harvard |access-date = December 7, 2011 |archive-date = December 1, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111201160857/http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/Custard.html |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name=songfacts/><ref>{{cite book |title = Behind the Hits |first1 = Bob |last1 = Shannon |first2 = John |last2 = Javna |publisher = Warner Books |year = 1986 |isbn = 978-0446389372 }}</ref> 
The song tells the story of an immortal [[dragon]] named Puff and his playmate, Jackie Paper, as they embark on adventures in the [[fictional county]] of Honalee. As time passes, Jackie matures and abandons his childhood games, leaving Puff alone and saddened.

Lipton, who was acquainted with Peter Yarrow through a mutual friend at Cornell, used Yarrow's typewriter to commit his poem to paper. He forgot about it until years later, when a friend informed him that Yarrow was seeking him to properly credit him for the lyrics. Upon reconnecting, Yarrow shared half of the songwriting credit with Lipton, who received royalties for the song until his death in 2022. Yarrow later died in 2025.<ref>{{cite news |url = https://people.com/peter-yarrow-dead-age-86-bladder-cancer-8770615 |title = Peter Yarrow, Grammy-Winning Musician of Peter, Paul and Mary Fame, Dies at 86 |first = Rachel |last = DeSantis |publisher = People |date = January 7, 2025 |accessdate = January 7, 2025 }}</ref>

In later performances, Yarrow changed the line "A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys" to "A dragon lives forever, but not so girls and boys", to be more inclusive.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://seobrien.com/puff-magic-dragon-marijuana-references-song-lyrics |title = Puff the Magic Dragon – Marijuana References in the Song Lyrics |date = May 21, 2000 |access-date = April 14, 2020 }}</ref> The original poem included a stanza about Puff finding a new playmate, but this was not incorporated into the song. The paper left in Yarrow's typewriter in 1959 has since been lost.<ref name=songfacts>{{cite web |url = https://www.songfacts.com/facts/peter-paul-and-mary/puff-the-magic-dragon |title = Puff The Magic Dragon by Peter, Paul and Mary |website = Songfacts |access-date = March 12, 2019 }}</ref>