Puff (The Magic Dragon)
Peter Paul & Mary

(As played by Peter Yarrow)

Picked with the thumb and two fingers using
the following basic pattern:

--2-----------2----
---------1---------
------T----------T-
-------------------
--T----------------

Chords (capo 2):
G:  320003
Bm: 224432
C:  032010 (and 032013 with little finger)
G/E 000003
A7  002020
D7  000212

     G              Bm             C
e-|--3--------3-----2--------2-----0--------3-------------|
B-|--------0--------------3--------------1----------------|
G-|-----0--------0-----4--------4-----0--------0----------|
D-|-------------------------------------------------------|
A-|-----------------2--------------3----------------------|
E-|--3----------------------------------------------------|
     Puff the magic dragon         lived by the

     G              C              G     Em
e-|--3--------3-----3--------3-----3-----3----------------|
B-|--------0--------------1-------------------------------|
G-|-----0--------0-----0--------0-----0-----0-------------|
D-|-------------------------------------------------------|
A-|-----------------3-------------------------------------|
E-|--3-----------------------------3-----0----------------|
     sea      and frolicked in the autumn mist in a

     A7             D7
e-|--0--------0-----2--------2----------------------------|
B-|--------2--------------1-------------------------------|
G-|-----0--------0-----2--------2-------------------------|
D-|-------------------------------------------------------|
A-|--0--------------0-------------------------------------|
E-|-------------------------------------------------------|
    land called Honalee

     G              Bm             C
e-|--3--------3-----2--------2-----0--------3-------------|
B-|--------0--------------3--------------1----------------|
G-|-----0--------0-----4--------4-----0--------0----------|
D-|-------------------------------------------------------|
A-|-----------------2--------------3----------------------|
E-|--3----------------------------------------------------|
     Little Jackie Paper           loved that rascal

     G              C                      G     G/E
e-|--3--------3-----3--------3---------------3-----3------|
B-|--------0--------------1-------------------------------|
G-|-----0--------0-----0--------0---------------0-----0---|
D-|-------------------------------------------------------|
A-|-----------------3-------------------------------------|
E-|--3---------------------------------------3-----0------|
     Puff     and brought him strings and sealing wax and

     A7     D7        G      D7
e-|--0----------2-----3----------2------------------------|
B-|--------0h1--------------0h1---------------------------|
G-|-----0----------2-----0----------2---------------------|
D-|-------------------------------------------------------|
A-|--0----------------------------------------------------|
E-|-------------------3-----------------------------------|
    other fancy      stuff, oh

Chorus:

Puff the magic dragon, lived by the sea,
and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee,
Puff the magic dragon, lived by the sea,
and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee,

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sails,
Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff’s gigantic tail.
Noble kings and princes would bow when’er they came,
And pirate ships would lower their flags 
when Puff roared out his name, oh

Repeat chorus

A dragon lives forever but not so little boys,
Painted wings and giant’s rings make way for other toys.
One grey 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.

Repeat chorus

In the original recording Peter picks the pattern throughout the entire song while Paul adds some treble fills up the neck. The stand-up bass in this version makes it hard to hear exactly what Peter's picking for his bass notes. In their 25th Anniversary video, Peter picks the verses and strums the choruses while Paul plays along in open chords without a capo in A (he barres the C#m on the 4th fret). 

SB 4/98