Puff the Magic Dragon
15/Apr/2025 01:39 PM
I don’t really know why the lyrics came to me a week or so ago??? But, the song, Puff the Magic Dragon started to play in my head. The lyrics that struck me, and I kept repeating in my mind, were the later ones.
“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.”
Every time they came to my mind, they made me really sad. It brought tears to my eyes a couple of times.
In fact, death is really sad. Sad for those of us who love someone. It hits us all sooner or later. And, I can tell you, it is not easy.
Recently, there have been a number of high-profile deaths. The great actor, Val Kilmer. The seminal drummer for the first wave of Punk that rose out of New York City in the 1970s, (and beyond), Clem Burke. David Johansen, founding member of a band that changed everything, The New York Dolls. The iconic actor, Gene Hackman. Even the L.A. DJ, Jed the Fish, who was an essential part of the whole New Wave invasion that took place, based out of the radio station here in L.A., KROQ. He passed away yesterday.
You know, these are people that you know of, but probably do not personally know. Yet, they and others have changed the fabric of our lives.
Then, there are those people who pass on that you/we do know. Those you (maybe) loved. It’s so fucking hard! Even just thinking about it is a total sad-maker.
So, of those of us who truly feel, just the thought of death, just the remembrance of those whom we knew and loved that are gone, it is so-so sad.
This brings us/me to a thought about all of this… It is kind of like a means/a method where I was forced to watch/to witness the changing hands of times…
Last week I received an alert about The Roller Blade Seven. That’s one of the many alerts I have set up for things I keep my eye out for on eBay. Someone was/is selling this little baby-sized refrigerator magnet with the poster for RB7 on it. Of course, they don’t have the rights to that poster or the film, and legally they should not be selling anything at all like that. But, it looks like the people who are doing this have a whole company surrounded around selling such movie poster items. Me, of course, I had to buy one. It was only like six-bucks. I received it today. It’s very small. But, I guess it is kind of cool in its own sort of way. I stuck it on my fridge.
But, kind of hand-in-hand with receiving that magnet, and the song playing in my head, it struck me as it is sad how many of the people associated with RB7 are gone. Don and Karen and Bill and Mark and Roger and Sam and… …Probably a lot of people that I do not even remember their name.
This is just something to keep in mind, “A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys…” You gotta love the people you love as best as you can while you can. Because tomorrow they will be no more. You will be no more.
“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.”
Every time they came to my mind, they made me really sad. It brought tears to my eyes a couple of times.
In fact, death is really sad. Sad for those of us who love someone. It hits us all sooner or later. And, I can tell you, it is not easy.
Recently, there have been a number of high-profile deaths. The great actor, Val Kilmer. The seminal drummer for the first wave of Punk that rose out of New York City in the 1970s, (and beyond), Clem Burke. David Johansen, founding member of a band that changed everything, The New York Dolls. The iconic actor, Gene Hackman. Even the L.A. DJ, Jed the Fish, who was an essential part of the whole New Wave invasion that took place, based out of the radio station here in L.A., KROQ. He passed away yesterday.
You know, these are people that you know of, but probably do not personally know. Yet, they and others have changed the fabric of our lives.
Then, there are those people who pass on that you/we do know. Those you (maybe) loved. It’s so fucking hard! Even just thinking about it is a total sad-maker.
So, of those of us who truly feel, just the thought of death, just the remembrance of those whom we knew and loved that are gone, it is so-so sad.
This brings us/me to a thought about all of this… It is kind of like a means/a method where I was forced to watch/to witness the changing hands of times…
Last week I received an alert about The Roller Blade Seven. That’s one of the many alerts I have set up for things I keep my eye out for on eBay. Someone was/is selling this little baby-sized refrigerator magnet with the poster for RB7 on it. Of course, they don’t have the rights to that poster or the film, and legally they should not be selling anything at all like that. But, it looks like the people who are doing this have a whole company surrounded around selling such movie poster items. Me, of course, I had to buy one. It was only like six-bucks. I received it today. It’s very small. But, I guess it is kind of cool in its own sort of way. I stuck it on my fridge.
But, kind of hand-in-hand with receiving that magnet, and the song playing in my head, it struck me as it is sad how many of the people associated with RB7 are gone. Don and Karen and Bill and Mark and Roger and Sam and… …Probably a lot of people that I do not even remember their name.
This is just something to keep in mind, “A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys…” You gotta love the people you love as best as you can while you can. Because tomorrow they will be no more. You will be no more.