Mellow Yellow
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| "Mellow Yellow" | |||||||||||
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| Single by Donovan | |||||||||||
| from the album Mellow Yellow | |||||||||||
| B-side | "Sunny South Kensington" (USA) "Preachin' Love" (UK) |
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| Released | 24 October 1966 (USA) February 1967 (UK) |
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| Format | 7" single | ||||||||||
| Recorded | September 1966 | ||||||||||
| Genre | Psychedelic pop | ||||||||||
| Length | 3:42 | ||||||||||
| Label | Epic 5-10098 Pye 7N 17267 |
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| Writer(s) | Donovan | ||||||||||
| Producer | Mickie Most | ||||||||||
| Donovan UK chronology | |||||||||||
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"Mellow Yellow" is the title of a song written and recorded by Scottish singer Donovan.[1] It reached number 2 on the U.S. Billboard charts in 1966 and number 8 in the UK in early 1967.
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[edit] Content
The song was rumored to be about smoking dried banana skins, which was believed to be a hallucinogenic drug in the 1960s, though this aspect of bananas has since been debunked. According to Donovan's notes accompanying the album Donovan's Greatest Hits, the rumor that one could get high from smoking dried banana skins was started by Country Joe McDonald in 1966, and Donovan heard the rumor three weeks before "Mellow Yellow" was released as a single. (According to The Rolling Stone Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll, he admitted later the song made reference to a vibrator; an "electrical banana" as mentioned in the lyrics.)[2] The phrase "mellow yellow" appears on page 719 of the first American edition of James Joyce's Ulysses, where it is used to refer to Mrs. Marion Bloom's buttocks, but it is not known if Donovan got the phrase from there.[3]
The record had a "Beatlesque" feel to it, and was sometimes mistaken for a Beatles song. Donovan, in fact, was friends with the Beatles. Paul McCartney can be heard as one of the background revelers on this track, but contrary to popular belief, it is not McCartney whispering the "quite rightly" answering lines in the chorus, but rather Donovan himself. Donovan had a small part in coming up with the lyrics for "Yellow Submarine", and McCartney played bass guitar (uncredited) on portions of Donovan's Mellow Yellow album.[4]
[edit] Covers
R&B and jazz singer Georgie Fame recorded his own version with a distinctively different arrangement reminiscent of the Count Basie orchestra.
Amanda Lear recorded this song in 1997, included in her cd Made of Blood & honey.
In 1999, "Mellow Yellow" was sung by a group of young adults, among whom were then-unknowns Alex Greenwald, Rashida Jones and Jason Thompson, in Gap's "Everybody in Cords" commercial directed by Pedro Romhanyi. The music mix was done by the Dust Brothers.[5]
In 2011, the song was featured in a new commercial for Mello Yello drink, as part of Coca-Cola's "Original Smooth" campaign to rebrand and reintroduce the drink. Also, the song itself was covered by Family of the Year featuring Donovan. The version is available for download on the Mello Yello website.
[edit] Other adaptations
Cadbury used a modified version of the song to promote their Caramello Koala chocolates ("They call me Caramello ... Koala").
The song was also used in a series of television commercials to promote the use of butter.
In France, Lipton used a modified version of the song to promote their tea ("They call me Lipton Yellow").
One of the oldest coffeeshops in Amsterdam is called "Mellow Yellow".[6]
In episode 17 of the 5th season of Scrubs, JD figures out the song is about jaundice (not quite rightly).
Jimi Hendrix made a reference to this song in his song "Bold as Love", final track on his second album Axis: Bold as Love.
Frank Zappa referenced the song in his number "Absolutely Free" on the album We're Only In It For The Money (1967).
[edit] References
- ^ "Show 48 - The British are Coming! The British are Coming!: With an emphasis on Donovan, the Bee Gees and the Who. [Part 5] : UNT Digital Library". Digital.library.unt.edu. 2012-01-10. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19823/m1/. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
- ^ The Rolling Stone encyclopedia of rock & roll (Rev. and updated for the 21st century ed.). New York: Fireside. 2001. p. 276. ISBN 0743201205.
- ^ Mellow Yellow | Donovan Song - Yahoo! Music[dead link]
- ^ The Paul McCartney World Tour booklet, 1989
- ^ Mind the Gap in: Entertainment Weekly #502 (Sep 10, 1999)
- ^ "Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory - Mellow Yellow coffee shop". Coffeeshop.freeuk.com. http://www.coffeeshop.freeuk.com/Mellow.html. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
[edit] External links
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