Puff, the Magic Dragon racism… Puff, himself, if asked, would certainly agree." During the Vietnam War the AC-47 Spooky gunship was nicknamed the "Dragon" or "Dragon ship" by the Americans because of its armament and firepower—the nickname soon caught on, and one website without primary citations indicates that the American troops began to call the AC-47 "Puff the Magic Dragon". Robert Mason's "Chickenhawk" states, in reference to the Peter, Paul and Mary song playing on a turntable: ""Puff the Magic Dragon" was making me uncomfortable. It was the saccharine song that had inspired the naming of the murderous Gatling-gun-armed C-47s. I couldn’t listen." Elon
Puff, the Magic Dragon popular secular tune. Both tune and elements of the lyrics were adapted in the controversial parody "Barack the Magic Negro", written and recorded by Paul Shanklin for Rush Limbaugh's radio program, after the term was first applied to then presidential candidate Obama by movie and culture critic, David Ehrenstein, in a "Los Angeles Times" op ed column of March 19, 2007. Yarrow condemned the act as "shocking and saddening in the extreme," stating that "taking a children's song and twisting it in such vulgar, mean-spirited way, is a slur to our entire country and our common agreement to move beyond