這首歌曲的內容，是一則發生在美國的真實故事。故事的主角是一位因倒閉破產而被判服刑三年的男子，在出獄前夕，他寫了一封信給在喬治亞州的妻子，問她是否還願意接納他，如果願意的話，便在他出獄當天，在家門前那棵老橡樹上繫上一條黃絲帶，如果答案是否的話，也就是他沒有看到黃絲帶的話，他會識趣的離開。

“Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” is a song by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando, written by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown and produced by Hank Medress and Dave Appell. It was a worldwide hit for the group in 1973.

It reached number one on both the US and UK charts for four weeks in April 1973, number one on the Australian charts for seven weeks from May to July 1973 and number one on the New Zealand charts for ten weeks from June to August 1973. It was the top-selling single in 1973 in both the US and UK. In 2008, Billboard ranked the song as the 37th biggest song of all time in its issue celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Hot 100.

The origin of the idea of a yellow ribbon as a token of remembrance may have been the 19th century practice that some women allegedly had of wearing a yellow ribbon in their hair to signify their devotion to a husband or sweetheart serving in the U.S. Cavalry. The song “‘Round Her Neck She Wears a Yeller Ribbon”, which later inspired the John Wayne movie She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, is a reference to this. The symbol of a yellow ribbon became widely known in civilian life in the 1970s as a reminder that an absent loved one, either in the military or in jail, would be welcomed home on their return. The story of a convict who had told his love to tie a ribbon to a tree outside of town is an American folk tale, dating to before 1959.

In October 1971, newspaper columnist Pete Hamill wrote a piece for the New York Post called “Going Home”. In it, he told a variant of the story, in which college students on a bus trip to the beaches of Fort Lauderdale make friends with an ex-convict who is watching for a yellow handkerchief on a roadside oak in Brunswick, Georgia. Hamill claimed to have heard this story in oral tradition. In June 1972, nine months later, Reader’s Digest reprinted “Going Home”.

Also in June 1972, ABC-TV aired a dramatized version of it in which James Earl Jones played the role of the returning ex-con. A month and a half after that, Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown registered for copyright a song they called “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree”. The authors said they heard the story while serving in the military. Pete Hamill was not convinced and filed suit for infringement.

In May 1973, “Tie A Yellow Ribbon” sold 3 million records in three weeks. When the dust settled, BMI calculated that radio stations had played it 3 million times – seventeen continuous years of airplay. Hamill dropped his suit after folklorists working for Levine and Brown turned up archival versions of the story that had been collected before “Going Home” had been written. The song enjoyed duplicate success on country radio, as a cover version by Johnny Carver. Carver’s rendition – simply titled “Yellow Ribbon” – was a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in June 1973.

Carver’s version also reached Number One on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada. Musically similar, the only difference in the song is the substitution of the minor expletive “damn” (in the lyric, “Now the whole damn bus is cheering”) with “darn.” Also in 1973, Jim Nabors covered the song on his album The Twelfth of Never (Columbia KC 32377). Later in 1973, Connie Francis had a minor hit in Australia with an answer song, “The Answer (Should I Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree?)” Her version remained in the top 40 for three weeks, peaking at number 31. Around 1974 the song was also covered by Hong Kong singing artist Agnes Chan.

The song was also covered by Bobby Goldsboro on a multi-artist compilation album entitled Storytellers released in 1976. The song had renewed popularity in 1981, in the wake of the Iranian hostage crisis. The song was performed by David Allen Grier over the closing credits of Amazon Women on the Moon. In 1999 S Club 7 performed the song for their hit tv series Miami 7. It was featured in the second episode. The song was also covered by SHINee at the SHINee Fukuoka arena tour on April 25th 2012.

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