1960s songs, friendship

#483 Puff The Magic Dragon- Peter, Paul and Mary

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A dragon lives forever but not so little boys/
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.

Not many 3 minute songs are so rich that they can be developed into a cartoon special, but Peter, Paul & Mary’s “Puff the Magic Dragon” did just that. The song is about loss of innocence. Puff and Jackie are great friends who go on mighty adventures throughout the mystical land of Honahlee. Jack would ride Puff and all the kings and princes would bow before them and their might. The adventures were magnificent for Jack…and for Puff.

Puff The Magic Dragon Meaning
Peter, Paul and Mary

But then one day it happened, Jackie grew out of his phase of playing with his toy dragon. Puff and Jackie were lifelong friends, but Jackie grew up and it kills Puff inside. Jackie is moving upwards and onwards; Puff is stuck with the memories. He will be forgotten.

Puff the Magic Dragon
Puff and Jackie Paper

This is such a unique tale of growing up, and outgrowing friendships, and being left behind all in a beautiful allegory. The harmonies of Peter, Paul and Mary blend well with just an acoustic guitar. This is a can’t miss folk song.

Puff The Magic Dragon Lyrics & Meaning

Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honali
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff
And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff

Oh, Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honali
Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honali

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff’s gigantic tail
Noble kings and princes would bow whene’er they came
Pirate ships would lower their flags when Puff roared out his name

Oh, Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honali
Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honali

A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant’s rings make way for other toys
One gray night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff, that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar

His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane
Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave
So Puff, that mighty dragon, sadly slipped into his cave

Oh, Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honali
Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honali

Songwriters: Leonard Lipton / Peter Yarrow

2000s songs, death

#482 What Sarah Said- Death Cab for Cutie

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But I’m thinking of what Sarah said:
“That love is watching someone die.”
Whose gonna watch you die?

“What Sarah Said” by Death Cab for Cutie takes on a topic you don’t hear often in music: death in a hospital. “What Sarah Said” is unique just in that sense alone. The waiting, the powerlessness, the antiseptic environment feels like an alien world. Yet it is often an important time and place for people.

What Sarah Said Meaning
Death Cab For Cutie

Families come and say their goodbyes to loved ones and reminisce; it is sad. But consider the alternative. Imagine if no one came to see you or if you had no one close to you to watch die. That is the message of the song. While Death Cab for Cutie tries to put a happy face on with their words, the melancholy tone of the song says that death is painful.

The music and vocals are gorgeous. The piano is particularly well done. The outro is powerful in a surprising way, even if the lyrics might sound nonsensical out of context. The song makes you think about the people in your life and your own mortality and how many songs have the ability to do that and sound good as well?

What Sarah Said Lyrics

And it came to me then
That every plan
Is a tiny prayer to father time

As I stared at my shoes
In the ICU
That reeked of piss and 409

And I rationed my breaths
As I said to myself
That I’d already taken too much today

As each descending peak
On the LCD
Took you a little farther away from me
Away from me

Amongst the vending machines
And year old magazines
In a place where we only say goodbye

It sung like a violent wind
That our memories depend
On a faulty camera in our minds

And I knew that you were truth
I would rather lose
Than to have never lain beside at all

And I looked around
At all the eyes on the ground
As the TV entertained itself

‘Cause there’s no comfort in the waiting room
Just nervous paces bracing for bad news
And then the nurse comes round
And everyone lifts their heads
But I’m thinking of what Sarah said

That love is watching someone die
So who’s gonna watch you die
So who’s gonna watch you die
So who’s gonna watch you die

Songwriters: Benjamin D. Gibbard / Christopher Ryan Walla / Jason Patrick McGerr / Nicholas Scott Harmer

2000s songs, words not needed

#481 Chasing Cars- Snow Patrol

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Those three words/
Are said too much/
They’re not enough.

The mystery about this song is what the “chasing cars” lyric has to do with anything in the rest of the song. In the rest of the song Snow Patrol does a great job of expressing what the narrator is feeling. In “Chasing Cars”, the narrator contemplates his feelings while lying next to his love in a field or bed. He feels love for her, but feels saying “I love you” express too much; and too little. The song is about young love and the inability to express your feelings to another person. Love is ineffable.

Chasing Cars Meaning
Snow Patrol

There are so many lines in this song that are perfectly expressed, like the above, and:

All that I am/
All that I ever was/
Is here in your perfect eyes, they’re all I can see.

The girl clearly loves him too and he can tell by the way she looks at him. It makes him imagine his best self that he can see in her eyes. He imagines that laying here with her would be enough for him to satisfy him forever.

“Chasing Cars” has simple instrumentation with the standout being the two-note alternating guitar pattern that continues throughout the song. In order to add variety, light distortion is added to the guitar in later verses, and piano in others. I have always thought that the ending was appropriate. While not something that immediately jumps out at you, the song just stops. Kind of like the author is being snapped back to reality from his reverie.

Chasing Cars Lyrics

We’ll do it all
Everything
On our own

We don’t need
Anything
Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

I don’t quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
They’re not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we’re told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that’s bursting into life

Let’s waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads

I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we’re told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that’s bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they’re all I can see

I don’t know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Songwriters: Natah Connolly / Gary Lightbody / Jonathan Quinn / Tom Simpson / Paul Wilson