(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Tony Orlando & Dawn - "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree"
Hit Number 1: April 21, 1973
Stay at Number 1: 4 Weeks
In 1971, there was a newspaper column written by Pete Hamill called "Going Home" for the New York Post. In the story, there's a description of college students on a bus trip to Fort Lauderdale who make friends with an ex-convict who's looking out for a yellow handkerchief on an oak tree in Georgia. The handkerchief was supposed to be a sign that the ex-convict was welcome back home to his wife or girlfriend. Hamill claimed to hear the story in oral tradition. The story began to pick up steam, being published in Reader's Digest in 1972. In the same year, the story was turned into a short film. L. Russell Brown, who was responsible for the writing of the first Tony Orlando #1 hit "Knock Three Times", happened to read the story, and told his songwriting partner, Irwin Levine, that he wanted to write a song with that same plot.
The two decided that they would change the handkerchief to a ribbon in the song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" so it would sound more "romantic." The story in "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" is very similar to the one told in "Going Home", just as Brown had hoped. An ex-convict is on a bus heading back home, but before heading back, he wrote a letter to his lover that if she still wants him, to tie a yellow ribbon around the ole oak tree. The man is scared to death that he'll look at a barren tree with no ribbon around it, so he asks the bus driver to look for him. If there is nothing on the tree, the man says he'll stay on the bus, blame himself and forget about everything the couple had together. Much to the man's surprise, he hears everyone on the bus cheering, and he looks to see "a hundred yellow ribbons round the ole oak tree." The last words of the song are "I'm coming home."
Though the song would eventually find its way to Tony Orlando & Dawn, and they had success with L. Russell Brown compositions in the past, they were not the first ones that were offered the song. Of all people, Brown and Levine offered the song to former Beatle Ringo Starr, but Starr was signed to Apple Records, and Apple Records' Al Steckler told them they should be ashamed of the song, and described it as being "ridiculous." So, it was fair to say that Starr wasn't happening, and I honestly can't even imagine him singing this song. So they returned to the ol' reliable Orlando, who agreed to record the song. Orlando's recording of Brown and Levine's song exposed Steckler and Apple Records, with "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" becoming the biggest hit on the entire planet in 1973. It hit #1 in 11 different countries, and in America, it was ranked as the top-selling single of the year. It's hard to imagine, if Starr had taken the song, if it would've sold the same. Orlando was a major star in the early '70s, and he sang his songs with a sort of charisma that made people like him. That may have been part of the selling point of "Tie a Yellow Ribbon". That's all just speculation, though.
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon" is a respectable song, and it's one with a lot of those cheery vibes you sometimes hear me talking about. The story is one with a happy ending, and you find yourself being happy for this fictional character in the song. But part of my problem with "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" is that the instrumentation of the song is seriously lacking any excitement. Orlando has a good enough voice to carry the song for a little bit, but all the song has behind him are little dinky organ bleeps and a grade-school level drum pattern. The song is hurt even more by comparison to "Knock Three Times", which I feel is a better song. You had the grand horns and gleaming strings in "Knock Three Times", but for whatever reason none of that carried over into "Tie a Yellow Ribbon". There's only a small solo for a string section, but that's it. The song just sounds incomplete.
I can only speak for myself though, and people obviously loved this song in 1973. This was a time where Tony Orlando couldn't miss, and at least on the part of him and Dawn, they all sound great on the track. "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" was a monster of a hit at this time, and the song does have the uplifting story and the vocal performance for bright spots. It's not all that bad, but I think it could've been better too. We'll get to hear from Orlando and Dawn one more time before we're done with them.
GRADE: 5/10
JUST MISSED:
War's slick, funkadelic shoutout to an old Western TV series "The Cisco Kid" peaked at #2 behind "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree". It's an 8.
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