Lyrics

Mr. Jack Paper


Buy them out and tear them down
That’s Mr. Paper’s job
The daily grind, and he keeps time
With his steady headache throb
Home from work, kiss the wife
Bask in his stark success
But lately something nags his heart
A dreaded emptiness

Jack Paper is a grownup now
But something’s left behind
A lovely wife, dear children, too
Life’s been more than kind
But choices made for happiness
Are choices that enslave
The part of Jack that holds the key
Lies mourning in a cave

Another day, another sunrise
Fails to light his heart
How he aches to find some meaning
Oh, but where to start
All a man could want he has
But it’s a dried up stream
He says, “What I want isn’t real”
But late that night he dreams

PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON
LIVED BY THE SEA
AND FROLICKED IN THE AUTUMN MIST
IN A LAND CALLED HON-A-LEE
PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON
LIVED BY THE SEA
AND FROLICKED IN THE AUTUMN MIST
IN A LAND CALLED HON-A-LEE*

Funny he should think of Puff
After all these years
His mom and dad, they all would laugh
‘Til Jackie was in tears
A day’s long drive, he parks the car
Where Cherry Lane dead ends
A lonely voice speaks to his heart
“I’ve missed you my old friend”

Old Jack Paper kneels to cry
As Puff roars “Welcome home”
“Why’d you leave me,” Puff demands
“What turned your heart to stone
It’s me you need, you silly man
The joy you miss is mine
Life without imagination
Isn’t worth the time”

Out the back door, on the grass
Jack sees his son pretend
The boy appears to speak to some
Imaginary friend
“This is Nim, the happy giant”
The boy points to thin air
“He would like to stay for dinner”
Jack adds an empty chair

 1991 Music and Lyrics by Steven Kalas - BMI*


*The “middle-eight’ lyrics and melody of Mr. Jack Paper are from “Puff the Magic Dragon”
Copyright 1963 / Peter Yarrow and Leonard Lipton