Mellow Yellow
Encyclopedia
"Mellow Yellow" is a song and single release by Donovan
. It reached #2 on the Billboard charts in the U.S. in 1966 and #8 in the UK in early 1967.
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.) 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.
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.
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
.
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.
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".
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
".
Frank Zappa
referenced the song in his number "Absolutely Free" on the album We're Only In It For The Money
(1967).
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
. It reached #2 on the Billboard charts in the U.S. in 1966 and #8 in the UK in early 1967.
The song was rumored to be about smoking dried banana skins, which was believed to be a hallucinogenic drug
Bananadine
Bananadine is a fictional psychoactive substance which is supposedly extracted from banana peels. A hoax recipe for its "extraction" from banana peel was originally published in the Berkeley Barb in March 1967...
in the 1960s, though this aspect of bananas has since been debunked. According to Donovan's notes accompanying the album Donovan's Greatest Hits
Donovan's Greatest Hits
Donovan's Greatest Hits is the first greatest hits album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was released in the United States in January 1969 , and in the United Kingdom in March 1969 . Donovan's Greatest Hits was a major seller, reaching #4 in the US...
, the rumor that one could get high from smoking dried banana skins was started by Country Joe McDonald
Country Joe McDonald
Country Joe McDonald is an American musician who was the lead singer of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Country Joe and the Fish.-Personal life:...
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.) The phrase "mellow yellow" appears on page 719 of the first American edition of James Joyce's Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
, where it is used to refer to Mrs. Marion Bloom's buttocks, but it is not known if Donovan got the phrase from there.
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
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
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
Yellow Submarine (song)
"Yellow Submarine" is a 1966 song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney , with lead vocals by Ringo Starr. It was included on the Revolver album and issued as a single, coupled with "Eleanor Rigby". The single went to number 1 on every major British chart, remained at number 1 for four weeks...
", and McCartney played bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
(uncredited) on portions of Donovan's Mellow Yellow
Mellow Yellow (album)
Mellow Yellow is the fourth album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was released in the United States in March 1967 Mellow Yellow is the fourth album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was released in the United States in March 1967 Mellow Yellow is the fourth album from...
album.
Covers
R&B and jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
singer Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
recorded his own version with a distinctively different arrangement reminiscent of the Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
orchestra.
Amanda Lear
Amanda Lear
Amanda Lear is a French singer, lyricist, composer, painter, TV presenter, actress and novelist....
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
Alex Greenwald
Alexander Greenwald is an American musician, actor, and more recently a record producer. He is best known as the lead singer of the Californian rock band, Phantom Planet, which is on indefinite hiatus according to a blog posting on the band's official website.-Life and career:Greenwald was born in...
, Rashida Jones
Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones is an American film and television actress, comic book author, screenwriter and occasional singer. She played Louisa Fenn on Boston Public and Karen Filippelli on The Office as well as roles in the films I Love You, Man and The Social Network...
and Jason Thompson
Jason Thompson (actor)
Jason Craig Thompson is a Canadian actor. He joined the cast of the American daytime drama General Hospital in December 2005 as arrogant yet brilliant neurosurgeon Dr. Patrick Drake...
, in Gap's "Everybody in Cords
Corduroy
Corduroy is a textile composed of twisted fibers that, when woven, lie parallel to one another to form the cloth's distinct pattern, a "cord." Modern corduroy is most commonly composed of tufted cords, sometimes exhibiting a channel between the tufts...
" commercial directed by Pedro Romhanyi. The music mix was done by the Dust Brothers
Dust Brothers
The Dust Brothers are the Los Angeles, California based, Grammy Award winning producers, E.Z. Mike and King Gizmo , famous for their sample-based music in the 1980s and 1990s, and specifically for their work on the albums Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys, Odelay by Beck, and the soundtrack to...
.
In 2011, the song was featured in a new commercial for Mello Yello
Mello Yello
Mello Yello is a caffeinated, citrus-flavored soft drink produced and distributed by The Coca-Cola Company. It was introduced on March 1, 1979 to compete with PepsiCo's Mountain Dew. There have been three flavored variants of Mello Yello. Mello Yello Cherry was released in response to Mountain Dew...
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
Family of the Year
Family of the Year is an American indie band from Los Angeles, California consisting of members Sebastian Keefe, Joseph Keefe, Christina Schroeter, and James Buckey.-History:...
featuring Donovan. The version is available for download on the Mello Yello website.
Other adaptations
Cadbury used a modified version of the song to promote their Caramello KoalaCaramello Koala
Caramello Koala is a brand of chocolate bar currently manufactured by Cadbury Australia. It consists of a chocolate cartoon shaped koala with a caramel center, similar to that of a Freddo, albeit a fully chocolate bar.The chocolate bar is sold in two sizes: the more common 20 gram size and the...
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
Lipton
Lipton is a brand of tea currently owned by Unilever.-History of Lipton Tea:Lipton was created at the end of the 19th century by a grocer, Sir Thomas Lipton, in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1893, he established the Thomas J. Lipton Co., a tea packing company with its headquarters and factory in Hobo ken,...
used a modified version of the song to promote their tea ("They call me Lipton Yellow").
One of the oldest coffeeshops
Cannabis coffee shop
Coffeeshops are establishments in the Netherlands where the sale of cannabis for personal consumption by the public is tolerated by the local authorities ....
in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
is called "Mellow Yellow".
In episode 17 of the 5th season of Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
, JD figures out the song is about jaundice
Jaundice
Jaundice is a yellowish pigmentation of the skin, the conjunctival membranes over the sclerae , and other mucous membranes caused by hyperbilirubinemia . This hyperbilirubinemia subsequently causes increased levels of bilirubin in the extracellular fluid...
(not quite rightly).
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
made a reference to this song in his song "Bold as Love
Bold as Love (song)
"Bold as Love" is a song by Jimi Hendrix, the final song and title track of the Jimi Hendrix Experience's 1967 album Axis: Bold as Love.-Recording:...
".
Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
referenced the song in his number "Absolutely Free" on the album We're Only In It For The Money
We're Only in It for the Money
We're Only in It For the Money is the third studio album by The Mothers of Invention, released in March 1968. The album peaked at number thirty on the Billboard 200...
(1967).