Everywhere I go these days I see yellow ribbons tied around oak trees, light poles, small animals, etc. These supposedly are to show concern for our troops in the Middle East. However, as I recall, in the song (you know, “Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree, blah blah blah”) the guy in question is returning from jail. Presumably he went to jail for a reason. Do the troops really appreciate being compared to a criminal? A friend tells me that the song is based on a true story, and that the fellow’s crime was something along the lines of stealing bread to feed orphans. True? And why yellow? –Steve Langer, Chicago
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Yellow ribbons first emerged as a national symbol in January 1981, when they sprouted like crabgrass to welcome home the Americans held hostage in Iran. The whole thing was apparently dreamed up by Penelope Laingen, wife of Bruce Laingen, U.S. charge d’affaires in Tehran. She was inspired by the song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree,” written in 1972 by Irwin Levine and Larry Brown and made famous by Tony Orlando and Dawn. Presumably Mrs. Laingen did not think the hostages were crooks; rather, like the narrator of the song, they had been held captive for a long time and were uncertain what kind of reception they’d get upon their return home–that is, until they saw the yellow ribbons.
The returning-convict story was apparently a widely circulated urban legend. New York Post writer Pete Hamill had related it in a 1971 column with a few different details–for one thing, the convict told his story not to a bus driver but to some college students headed for Fort Lauderdale. Hamill claimed he’d heard the story from one of the students, a woman he’d met in Greenwich Village. He sued Brown and Levine for stealing his work, but the defense turned up still earlier versions of the tale and the suit was dropped.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Slug Signorino.
