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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to burst into tears when singing Puff The Magic Dragon to my dcs??

344 replies

LucyOnTheSchoolRunWithDiamonds · 09/09/2009 22:11

I ended up making dd cry too.

OP posts:
plus3 · 09/09/2009 22:12

Well, I have never sang this song to my children for this very reason!!!! I find it unbelivevably sad and am welling up just thinking about it!

weegiemum · 09/09/2009 22:12

I can never sing "Puff" without weeping.

YANBU, but you are a big old softy!

diedandgonetodevon · 09/09/2009 22:13

I never sing it for just that reason.

ChasingSquirrels · 09/09/2009 22:15

me too

hocuspontas · 09/09/2009 22:16

Same here! I always thought Jackie Paper had died

Original poster
LucyOnTheSchoolRunWithDiamonds · 09/09/2009 22:16

Picture this - sitting on the sofa, one on either side, arms around them, singing, both of them (aged 3 and 1) snuggled into me.

How could I not cry??

dd, sensitive soul, asked why I was crying and I was too overwrought to lie - said "because one day you'll grow up and not want to cuddle me anymore!!!"

she burst into tears and for the rest of the night kept insisting that she wants to be 3 forever (this from someone obsessed with being a 'big girl') and "cuddle my mummy boo hoo hooo mammmmmmmaaaaaaaa!!!!""

OP posts:
Ninks · 09/09/2009 22:16

Oh I would too, it's a sad tune! Have never tried, mind. But I remember it from starting school myself ergo potential crying.

I learned long ago to never wear mascara when children are singing. Or contact lenses. And to take tissues.

preciouslillywhite · 09/09/2009 22:17

when you're done with that, try singing "Two Little Boys" to a pair of fighting twins

GibbonInARibbon · 09/09/2009 22:18

I am so haunted by it that I cannot even hear someone humming it without feeling like an emotional wreck.

PortBlacksandResident · 09/09/2009 22:19

Aaaargh! It is such a sad song. That and 'the age of not believing' from Bedknobs and Broomsticks -

katiestar · 09/09/2009 22:19

Yes makes me cry too.

Georgimama · 09/09/2009 22:20

I can't sing Puff the Magic Dragon. I haven't tried yet. I would cry. It used to make me cry when I was 4.

I remember some cynic saying it was about drugs but that can't be true, can it?

2 Little Boys is quite beyond me. Sobbage maximus.

HumphreyCobbler · 09/09/2009 22:21

i wrote another verse when i was ten, i just couldn't bear the pain

Georgimama · 09/09/2009 22:22

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

CHORUS

A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys
Painted wings and giants'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, oh

CHORUS

SOB

onepieceoflollipop · 09/09/2009 22:22

Would someone please be kind enough to post the words? Thanks

Bibithree · 09/09/2009 22:22

I leave it to dh to read the book.sing the song. I absolutely cannot bring my wussy self to do it.

Original poster
LucyOnTheSchoolRunWithDiamonds · 09/09/2009 22:23

drugs!!!!! What nonsense.

Although I can't vouch for what the "other fancy stuff" that Jackie Paper was bringing to Puff was.

OP posts:
Georgimama · 09/09/2009 22:24

As above you Bibi

PortBlacksandResident · 09/09/2009 22:27

When you rush around in hopeless circles
Searching ev'rywhere for something true
You're a t the age of not believing
When all the "make believe" is through

When you set aside your childhood heroes
And your dreams are lost up on a shelf
You're a t the age of not believing
And worst of all you doubt yourself

You're a castaway where no one hears you
On a barren isle in a lonely sea
Where did all the happy endings go?
Where can all the good times be?

You must face the age of not believing
Doubting ev'rything you ever knew
Until at last you start believing
There's something wonderful...
Truly wonderful in you

Original poster
LucyOnTheSchoolRunWithDiamonds · 09/09/2009 22:28

Humphrey, what was your extra verse, can you remember?

the book we have is kind of nice, it has a little girl coming to find Puff at the end .. his lovely dragony face is lit up like a Christmas tree .. even so, you just know that she's going to grow up and abandon him too, little sod

OP posts:
onepieceoflollipop · 09/09/2009 22:28

Soppy lot - time for bed for some of us I think.

OrmIrian · 09/09/2009 22:32

Oh no it is heart-breakingly sad. It made me sad when I was a DC too.

catinthehat2 · 09/09/2009 22:32

I was away from home when I was 6 and felt dreadful. AN older girl in the family sang it to me one night, never forgot it, still makes me blub remembering it.

penona · 09/09/2009 22:33

We have that on our kids CD but it's about the only song I don't know the words too.... having just read them I am v pleased I don't! Would be v teary.

2 little boys does it for me. So very sad. Had not realised Puff was the same theme.

HumphreyCobbler · 09/09/2009 22:34

god it was so bad

But Puff that magic dragon
Didn't pine for long
Jackie grew up and married
And had a baby son
His name was little Peter
He visited everyday
And Puff that magic dragon
Had a friend with which to play

my family have been taking the piss ever since