Love dragons while you can
The blonde and the beatniks (Photo: www.stmclassof67.info)
From the time I was very small, I’ve had a special relationship with dragons. My mother use to sing “Puff, the Magic Dragon” to help me go to sleep, and I loved to dream of a great dragon friend that would always be with me, no matter where I went. The urban legend surrounding the song’s meaning was never a part of my upbringing, and Peter, Paul and Mary consistently denied that drugs or smoking had anything to do with what the song was about. What was important to me was that in the image of the dragon I’d created in my head, I had a friend. If I’d needed payday installment loans way back then, I’m sure he would have been a good reference.
Friends who tried to make the world better
Later, the dragon from the Disney film “Pete’s Dragon” joined my circle of playmates. But no dragon was quite as good as Puff. As I grew older, I began to learn about the music of Peter, Paul and Mary, and it eventually led me into my current love of folk and protest music. This is why the knowledge of Mary Travers’ death saddens me so. She was a beautiful example that proved what I’ve always believed, that radical ideas are often the most natural of all. The group didn’t represent a dangerous radical subculture, but a group of friends who cared about what was happening to the world around them and wanted to make a positive change with wholesome music. For a child in love with dragons, they were fantastic. And the melancholy that comes with an adult leaving the trappings of childhood behind – a major theme in “Puff, the Magic Dragon” – has never failed to bring me to tears.
Mary Travers voice rang like a bell
Mary Travers death came after a long battle with leukemia. She was 72 years old, and the music she made with Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey will live on.
Their songs like “If I Had a Hammer” freely espoused a liberal sense of social justice. “Lemon Tree,” “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and “Puff, the Magic Dragon” are just a few of their award-winning hits. They helped bring Bob Dylan into America’s popular music consciousness and also opposed the war in Vietnam. In sum, the music of Peter, Paul and Mary gently informed the American mainstream that it was OK to question the way things were going in their country. For me, they have been a great comfort.
Simple, soothing melodies
That’s what Peter, Paul and Mary were all about, and Mary Travers’ voice stood for patriotism, authenticity and holding true to what you believe. A simple message with simple yet beautiful music can reach people of all ages, without the aid of payday installment loans to fund a glitzy ad campaign with 70-foot tall Hannah Montanas and Kanye Wests. Mary Travers and her goateed companions were honest. Their sense of justice rang like a freedom bell.
I sing “Puff, the Magic Dragon” to my children, and I hope they will share the song with their own children someday. My daughter already has a love of the fantastic. May the dragons of childhood protect her as they did me. May the imaginative joy of childhood never fade. Love dragons while you can, because that part of us will always need love. Mary Travers understood that. She will be missed.
“I have no idea what it will be like to have no Mary in my world, in my life, or on stage to sing with. But I do know there will always be a hole in my heart, a place where she will always exist that will never be filled by any other person. However painful her passing is, I am forever grateful for Mary and her place in my life.” – Peter Yarrow
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