Yellow blends with red, white and blue

Americans today count yellow ribbons as a patriotic gesture, but local historian Frank Nickell says the tradition has more to do with an Irish drinking song than a salute to troops.

The origins of the yellow-ribbon tradition to remember soldiers in conflict may date back to the Civil War, but there's little solid evidence to support it. Civil War historians say no diaries, letters or photographs of that era could be found documenting the tradition.

A 1949 John Wayne movie, "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," dealt with the safe return of Union troops during the Civil War. The movie was based on a song by the same title that dates back at least to 1917.

The key verses of that song: "Around her neck, she wore a yellow ribbon; she wore it in the springtime and in the month of May; and if you asked her why the heck she wore it; she wore it for her true love who was far, far away."

The song was popular at colleges in the 1920s and 1930s where students changed the symbol from a yellow ribbon to a garter of whatever color represented their school.

But Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History at Southeast Missouri State University, said the song has its roots in an Irish drinking song dating back to at least the 1500s.

"Even Shakespeare makes reference to that," Nickell said.

It never started out as a patriotic gesture. The original song dealt with faithfulness and chastity, Nickell said.

Most historians, including Nickell, say the tradition took on its present-day meaning after Penelope Laingen tied a yellow ribbon around an oak tree in her front yard in Bethesda, Md., after her husband, then ambassador to Iran, was taken hostage with 51 other Americans in 1979.

Laingen said she was inspired by the popular 1973 song, "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree," sung by Tony Orlando and Dawn. The song, however, was not about hostages or soldiers, but a prisoner returning home from jail.

The song was written by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown. It was based on a story Brown had heard in the Army, but the symbol was changed from a white kerchief to a yellow ribbon to better fit the music.

In the song, a returning prisoner tells fellow bus travelers that he has asked his sweetheart to tie a yellow ribbon around the tree if she still loves him. In the end, the bus riders find she has tied not one but 100 ribbons around the tree.

Yellow ribbons were popular during the Gulf War in 1991 as a symbol of support for the U.S. troops.

Nickell isn't surprised to see the ribbons surface again in the latest war. "Folklore is such an important part of every war," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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