DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Subject: DTStudy: Around Her Hair She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 02:51 PM

This is an edited DTStudy thread, and all messages posted here are subject to editing and deletion.
This thread is intended to serve as a forum for corrections and annotations for the Digital Tradition song named in the title of this thread.

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Around Her Neck She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

DESCRIPTION: The girl wears a yellow ribbon around her neck "For her lover who was far, far away." In May and December she scatters yellow flowers on a grave "for her soldier who was far, far away." (In other versions she may be pregnant and face abandonment)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:

KEYWORDS: love separation death burial pregnancy abandonment
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Arnett, p. 149-150, "Around Her Neck She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHJohnson, p. 115, "Yaller Ribbon" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 145, "Round Her Neck She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" (1 text)
DT, (YLLORBBN)

Roud #10642, etc.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "All Around My Hat"
SAME TUNE:
The Scarlet Bonnet (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 159)
Notes: The versions of this song I know run the gamut. Arnett's is a lament for a lost soldier. In Johnson's text, she has had a child by the missing man. In the Digital Tradition version, the song is angry, and the child is clearly illegitimate, and her father is prepared to guard her with a shotgun. The latter version is considered by the DT editors to be an "All around My Hat" variant -- but it seems to be simply a stronger version of the Johnson text. - RBW
I think this one and "All Around My Hat" are, at the least, siblings, and more likely fraternal twins. - PJS
That they share genetic material is clear. But they have also evolved independently, and this one exists in far more diverse forms. - RBW

File: Arn149

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The version of She Wore A Yellow Ribbon in the Digital Tradition is just about like DADGBE remembers it in the All Around My Hat thread.. I remember a version that's more like this:

YELLOW RIBBON

Around her hair she wore a yellow ribbon
She wore it in the spring time, in the early month of May
And if you asked her why the heck she wore it
She'd say she wore it for her soldier who was far, far away
Far away
Far away
She wore it for her soldier who was far, far away

Around the block she pushed a baby carriage
She pushed it in the spring time, in the early month of May
And if you asked her why the heck she pushed it
She'd say she pushed it for her soldier who was far, far away
Far away
Far away
She pushed it for her soldier who was far, far away

Behind the door, her father kept a shotgun
She kept it in the spring time, in the early month of May
And if you asked her why the heck she kept it
She'd say she kept it for her soldier who was far, far away
Far away
Far away
She kept it for her soldier who was far, far away

Around his grave she laid the pretty flowers
She laid them in the spring time, in the early month of May
And if you asked her why the heck she laid them
She'd say she laid them for her soldier who was far, far away
Far away
Far away
She laid them for her soldier who was far, far away


The grave verse has a lot of power, but I didn't know about the shotgun verse. I don't think Mitch Miller sang that one...

Subject: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 03:30 PM

A discussion of this song started in the All Around My Hat thread, and I thought maybe the song deserved a thread of its own.

Subject: ADD Version: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 04:49 PM

Yaller Ribbon

Around her neck she wore a yaller ribbon,
She wore it in December and in the month of May.
When we asked her why the hell she wore it,
She said it was for her lover who was fur-fur away,
Fur away, fur away, fur away, fur away,
For her lover who was fur, fur away.

Around the house she wore a mother hubbard, etc.

Around the block she wheeled a baby carriage, etc.


This is from Bawdy Ballads and Lusty Lyrics (John Henry Johnson, Editor, 1935)

Subject: ADD Version: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 04:56 PM

Thios is from Songs from the Front and Read: Canadian Servicemen's Songs of the Second World War (Anthony Hopkins, 1979)

The yellow ribbon, or variations of it, has been around girls' necks since the post-Civil War days when this was a US cavalryman's song. In polite versions, the absence of her soldier-lover causes only longing. In this version, called "The Airman's Girl Friend" in a song sheet from Newfoundland containing the lyrics, she has more than fond memories of ecstatic nights to remind her of the joys and perils of wartime romance. There is a baby, but there is no longer a father—perhaps. Smokey Joe was often the nickname of any dark-complexioned man, but in any case, it's somebody else's child.

The alternate verse is from an RCAF Women's Division version of the song that is, in most respects, very similar to the first five verses of the song as printed here. As with other songs, women are different
from men—more practical, more hopeful, and, in their own opinion, more honest.


She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

1. Around her neck she wore a silver locket,
She wore it in the springtime, and in the month of May.
And if you asked her why the hell she wore it,
She wore it for an airman who was far, far away.

CHORUS
Far away (far away), far away (far away),
She wore it for an airman who was far, far away.

2. Around her leg she wore a purple garter,
She wore it in the springtime, and in the month of May.
And if you asked her why the hell she wore it,
She wore it for an airman who was far, far away.

CHORUS

3. Around her waist she wore a dirty girdle,
She wore it in the springtime, and in the month of May.
And if you asked her why the hell she wore it,
She wore it for an airman who was far, far away.

CHORUS

4. Around the park she pushed a baby carriage,
She pushed it in the springtime, and in the month of May.
And if you asked her why the hell she pushed it,
She pushed if for an airman who was far, far away.

5. Behind the door her father kept a shot-gun,
He kept it in the springtime, and in the month of May.
And if you asked him why the hell he kept it,
He kept it for an airman who was far, far away.

6. Upon a grave she placed a bunch of posies,
She placed them in the springtime, and in the month of May.
And if you asked her why the hell she placed them,
She placed them for an airman who was six feet down.

CHORUS

Six feet down (six feet down), six feet down (six feet down),
She placed them for an airman who was six feet down.

7. Our story told, the airman was a sucker,
We tell it when we're dead broke, and when we're in the dough,
For if you looked into the baby carriage,
Now who the hell was in there, but little Smokey Joe.

CHORUS

Smokey Joe (Smokey Joe), Smokey Joe (Smokey Joe),
Now who the hell was in there, but little Smokey Joe.

ALTERNATE VERSE

And on the wall she keeps a marriage license,
She keeps it in the springtime, and in the month of May,
And if you ask her why the heck she keeps it,
She keeps it for her lover who is far, far, away.

Subject: ADD Version: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 05:07 PM

I rescued this message from the Tony Orlando thread.
-Joe Offer-

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Thread #30091   Message #806395
Posted By: GUEST
18-Oct-02 - 05:49 PM
Thread Name: Help: Tie a yellow ribbon-origin
Subject: ADD Version: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Clickie to the Library Congress site (RichJoy, above)
Yellow Ribbons

The Cowell Folksong Collection (Library of Congress, American Memory) has the song "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," collected in 1939, California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties.

SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON

Around the house she wore a sweet kimona
She wore it in the morning and in the month of May;
They asked, they asked the reason that she wore it.
She wore it for her lover who was far, far away.
Far away, far away,
And she wore it for her lover who was far, far, away.

Around the street she wheeled a baby carriage,
She wheeled it in September and in the month of May;
They asked, they asked the reason she wheeled it.
She wheeled it for her lover who was far, far away.
Far away, far away,
And she wheeled it for her lover who was far, far away.

Round her head, she wore a yellow ribbon,
She wore it in the morning and in the month of May;
They asked, they asked the reason why she wore it.
She wore it for her lover who was far, far away. etc. (vars., same source, same singer)
She wore it for her sweetie, etc.

Round her waist she wore a yellow ribbon etc.

Seventy years ago, more or less (about 1930), I remember my father singing a scandalous version that he had learned while in Ft. Riley Cavalry School, 1918-20 or thereabouts. I wish that I had the words.

Whether this has anything to do with the current practice, I don't know.
In 1911, Sufragettes wore a yellow ribbon with "Votes for Women" on it. This also from American Memory.
Type in yellow ribbon in the search blank at Query and look at item 2, Cowell Collection, and item 6, Cowell Collection.

For fun, read item 3 (WPA), Moose City- Someone pinned a yellow ribbon to Slowey's coat (he was Irish Catholic). His croney, also Irish Catholic and drunk, saw the ribbon, and proceeded to attack the supposed Orangeman. But read the story.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: masato sakurai
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 07:44 PM

This (in the Levy collection) seems to be the earliest. Unfortunately the links to page images are inactive.

Title: Round her Neck She Wears A Yeller Ribbon (For Her Lover Who is Fur Fur Away).
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Words and Music by George A. Norton.
Publication: New York: Leo Feist, Inc., 1917.
Instrumentation: piano and voice
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
First Line: Susie Simpkins in the village papers read about the soldiers manly capers
First Line of Chorus: 'Round her neck she wears a yeller ribbon
Engraver, Lithographer, Artist: E. Pfeiffer N.Y.
Advertisement: ads on back cover for Leo Feist stock
Subject: Farms
Subject: Cattle
Subject: Dwellings
Subject: Meadows
Subject: Dialects
Subject: Absences
Subject: Spouses
Subject: Soldiers
Subject: Correspondence
Call No.: Box: 154 Item: 099

The sheet music (facsimile) is in David A. Jasen, For Me and My Gal and Other Favorite Song Hits, 1915-1917 (Dover, 1994, pp. 104-106), so I'll post the lyrics later if no one does.

~Masato

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: masato sakurai
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 10:03 PM

"Round Her Neck She Wears A Yeller Ribbon" performed by American Quartet [Real Audio sound clip], from World War One Songs: Early Recordings from 1918 Victrola (World War One Songs Tape/CD 9).

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: Declan
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 05:01 AM

I'm not sure if this belongs on this thread or on the all around my hat thread, but its obviously related to both - maybe even a missing link. An Irish Republican song called the tri-coloured ribbon O. What I remember from learning it as a child is :

I had a true love, if ever a girl had one,
I had a true love a fine man was he,
And one fine gallant morning with his loyal comrades,
He started away for to make Ireland Free

Chorus

All around my hat I wear a tri-coloured ribbon-O
All Around my hat until death comes to me,
And if anyone should ask me just why I do wear it,
Its all for my true love, (who's far far at sea ??)

The air is very similar to the one Steel-eye span used for All around my hat (without the rocky bits!)

Subject: Lyr Add: 'ROUND HER NECK SHE WEARS A YELLER RIBBON
From: masato sakurai
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 06:06 AM

'ROUND HER NECK SHE WEARS A YELLER RIBBON
(FOR HER LOVER WHO IS FUR, FUR AWAY)
Words & Music by George A. Norton (1917)

Susie Simpkins in the village papers
Read about the soldiers manly capers,
And made up her mind,
That a soldier's bonnie bride she'd be;
Volunteers were called a little later,
Big Si Hubbard stopped a-hoeing 'taters,
Fell right into line,
And mustered with a company.
She cried and kissed him when he marched away,
And she vowed to keep him in her mind each day.

Chorus:
'Round her neck she wears a yeller ribbon,
She wears it in the winter and the summer so they say
If you ask her "Why the decoration"?
She'll say "It's fur my lover who is fur, fur away.
Fur away (fur away) fur away (fur away),
If she is milkin' cows or mowin' hay;
'Round her neck she wears a yeller ribbon,
She wears it fur her lover who is fur, fur away.

Months rolled by and patierntly she waited,
Read the war news, greatly agitated,
No word from her boy,
'Till a lettewr from his Captain said
"Your Beau Silas, he went out a-gunnin',"
Soon he had the enemy a-runnin',
Susie wept for joy,
Tho' further on the letter read;
"The enemy can run some you can bet,
But they couldn't capture Si, he's runnin' yet."

Sigmund Spaeth says that "a strange dialect song called All Round My Hat" is "unquestionably the ancestor of the later Round Her Neck She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, with all its variants and imitations." (A History of Popular Music in America, Random House, 1948, p. 83)

An American edition in the Levy collection:

Title: All Around My Hat. A New Comic Song.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Written By J. Ansell, Esq.; Composed & Arranged by John Valentine.
John Valentine Publication: Boston: Oliver Ditson, 115 Washington St., n.d..
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
Instrumentation: piano and voice
First Line: 'Twas a going of my rounds, in the street I first did meet her
First Line of Chorus: All round my hat, I vears a green villow
Performer: as Sung by Mr. Jack Reeve, with unbounded applause
Subject: Humorous pictures
Subject: Mules
Subject: Vegetables
Subject: Eating & drinking
Subject: Courtship & love
Subject: Peddlers
Subject: Gifts
Subject: Marriage
Call No.: Box: 046 Item: 008

~Masato

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: masato sakurai
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 10:21 AM

From: Meade et al., Country Music Resources (p. 173):

'ROUND HER NECK SHE WEARS A YELLER RIBBON
[George A. Norton, w&m, 1917, Ref: (5) American Quartette, 1918, Vi 18436.]

Round Her Neck She Wears A Yeller Ribbon (IND 662-) – Floyd Thompson & His Hometowners (vcl w/2 vlns, hca & gtr) 06/23/1928. Indianapolis, Ind.
    Vo 5266 – 01/1919               Pan 25163 (Floyd Turner & His Hometowners)
    Me M12251 (Floyd Turner & His Hometowners) – 11/1931
'Round Her Neck She Wears A Yeller Ribbon (92086-) – Bob Dunn's Vagabonds (vcl w/string band) – 04/11/1940, Houston Texas.
    De 5868

Subject: Lyr Add: THE GLASGOW FIRE BRIGADE SONG
From: masato sakurai
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 10:44 AM

From A1 Central ( Ingram Street ) Glasgow site:

    THE GLASGOW FIRE BRIGADE SONG
    (Sung to the tune of "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon")

Around her leg she wore a yellow garter,
She wore it in the summer and she wore it in the fall;
And, if you ask her why the hell she wore it,
She wore it for her lover in the Glasgow Fire Brigade

   Chorus:
   Fire Brigade, Fire Brigade,
   She wore it for her lover in the Glasgow Fire Brigade.

Around the park she pushed her perambulator,
She pushed it in the summer and she pushed it in the fall;
And, if you ask her why the hell she pushed it,
She pushed it for her lover in the Glasgow Fire Brigade.

   Chorus:
   Fire Brigade, Fire Brigade,
   She pushed it for her lover in the Glasgow Fire Brigade.

Behind the door her father kept a shotgun,
He kept it in the summer and he kept it in the fall;
And, if you ask him why the hell he kept it,
He kept it for her lover in the Glasgow Fire Brigade.

   Chorus:
   Fire Brigade, Fire Brigade,
   He kept it for her lover in the Glasgow Fire Brigade.

Upon his grave she planted a bunch of roses,
She planted it in the summer and she planted it in the fall;
And, if you ask her why the hell he planted it,
She planted it for her lover in the Glasgow Fire Brigade.

   Chorus:
   Fire Brigade, Fire Brigade,
   She planted it for her lover in the Glasgow Fire Brigade.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: masato sakurai
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 10:51 AM

"She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" -- Mitch Miller & The Gang [Real Audio], from a Japanese oldies site.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: GUEST,Bman
Date: 18 Dec 02 - 10:39 AM

This song (Yellow Ribbon) is often used as a marching cadence in the Army. I know one verse of a parody which I found amusing, and which may be of some interest: Behind the door he keeps a nine-foot bullwhip/ He keeps it in the springtime, and the merry month of May/ And if you ask him why'n the heck he keeps it/ He keeps it for that dominatrix far, far away/ Far away, etc. regards, Bman

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: GUEST,Bman
Date: 18 Dec 02 - 10:41 AM

By the way, if you sing the "dominatrix" verse as cadence while marching, it can cause enough hilarity to put people out of step. Not practical, but fun. regards, Bman

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: Declan
Date: 18 Dec 02 - 10:48 AM

I knew I'd posted to a thread on this song before, but I couldn't find this one when I was posting earlier on. If anyone is interested in the tri-coloured ribbon version of this song , I've posted it
here

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: GUEST,Kathy
Date: 07 May 05 - 05:02 PM

I have wondered if the Yellow Ribbon cadence song was introduced by Irish immigrants who joined the military. There are hints of Irish in other cadences too. The "Old Lady/Woman" cadences where the soldiers meet the old woman dressed for battle on the way to some training school. When I served in the US Army and first heard them I knew that this was the Morrigan, the Queen of Battle, a shapeshifter who can appear old or young. In legends she often appears to the hero of the story shortly before he must engage in combat. The nickname for the Infantry in the US Army is The Queen of Battle. Most assume that is from the chess game. But infantry moves nothing like a queen in chess. The pawns are the infantry, the queen move more like air assult (repeling out of helecopters) and other airborne attacks. But there were a great deal of Irish in the infantry as well as the cavalry which is now mechanised infantry.

Sorry to digress so far from Yellow Ribbon. The yellow ribbon may date back to a song about a widow of 23 who marries a boy of 14. It is an arranged marriage of the middle ages. He is still attending school and she ties yellow ribbons around his head so that the girls at school will know he is a married man. He is married at 14, a father at 15 and dead by 16. But I can't remember the name of the song.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: Peace
Date: 07 May 05 - 05:09 PM

http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:CmFLePnb164J:www.loc.gov/folklife/ribbons/ribbons_81.html+%22SHE+WORE+A+YELLOW+RIBBON%22,+h

Pertinent to this thread: See about halfway down the page that comes up when ya click the link.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: Peace
Date: 07 May 05 - 05:15 PM

http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:c2p2SMlGEzYJ:endtimepilgrim.org/yellowrib.htm+%22%27Round+her+neck+SHE+WORE+A+YELLOW+RIBBON

Another interesting read.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: Snuffy
Date: 07 May 05 - 06:55 PM

Kathy,

Look here Penguin: The Trees They Grow So High for lots of versions of the song about the young lad (Daily Growing, The Bonny Boy, etc).

Where mentioned in the songs, the ribbons are usually blue or white, but, as the Penguin Book of English Folksongs (1959) says, "The presenting and wearing of coloured ribbons, once common in Britain, still plays a prominent part in betrothal and marriage in Central and Eastern Europe."

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: RobbieWilson
Date: 07 May 05 - 07:23 PM

First ever rock concert I ever went to was Barclay James Harvest at Green's PLayhouse in Glasgow. They refused to do an encore saying they wanted to see John Wayne in SWAYR on the trlly.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: Lighter
Date: 02 Nov 06 - 09:24 AM

The 1917 printed sheet music is here:

http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/cgi-bin/display.pl?record=154.099.001&pages=3

Subject: ADD Version: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: GUEST,Shipwreck
Date: 20 Aug 10 - 01:31 PM

SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON

Around her neck she wore a yellow ribbon,
She wore it in the springtime, in the merry month of may
and if you ask her why the hell she wore it
She wore it for the sailor who was always underway

Underway (underway)
Underway (underway)
She wore it for the sailor who was alwayy underway

And in her purse she had a box of condoms,
she had them in the springtime, in the merry month of may
And if you ask her why the hell she had them
She cheated on the sailor who was always underway

Underway (underway)
Underway (underway)
She cheated on the sailor who was always underway

And on her junk she had a bad infection,
Contracted in the springtime, in the merry month of may
And if you ask her how the hell she got it,
She was cheating on the sailor who was always underway.

Underway (underway)
Underway (underway)
She cheated on the sailor who was always underway

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Aug 10 - 03:00 PM

This is great, Shipwreck. Where did this version come from? In these DTStudy threads, we try to document sources as well as we can (it's helpful in all threads).
-Joe-

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: GUEST,Hamish
Date: 07 Nov 12 - 06:02 AM

When I was a member of a bushwalking club in Melbourne Australia in the late 1960s we used to sing a slight variation of this

In her hair she wears a yellow ribbon
She wears it in the springtime, in the merry moth of May, hey hey
And if you ask her why the hell she wears it
She wears it for a bushwalker who is far far away

Far away, not far enough
Far away not far enough
She wears it for a bushwalker who is far far away

Around the park she wheels a perambulator..........

On his wall her Daddy keeps a shotgun..........

Far away, a bushwalker is laughing
He's laughing in the springtime, in the merry month of May, hey hey
And if you ask him why the hell he's laughing
He's laughing cause he is so very far far away

Far away, quite far enough
Far away quite far enough
Hes laughing cause he is so very far,far away.

No-one really knew the origins of the songs we sang, they were just sung and passed down to new members that way, by oral tradition, I guess you have to call it.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: GUEST
Date: 02 May 13 - 12:18 PM

We sang this as a sort of official anthem for a college organization I belonged to in 1996-2000. The Yuai Community was originally formed as an alternative to Greek groups on campus, theoretically in opposition, and was known for random events of philanthropy and regular events of debauchery, individuals with a taste for "substances", weirdos & freaks & leaders all, who held a weekly themed cocktail party, often in costume. It was lovely. And shouting this at 3 AM on a Wednesday was part of the fun. So great to see where it came from, only slightly altered:

Around her leg she wore a purple garter
   (since purple is the Yuai color)
She placed in in the springtime, and in the month of May HEY HEY! (delivered as a great shout)
And if you asked her why the hell she wore it
She wore it for her Yuai who was far, far away.

(Chorus, etc.)
...

Around her waist there grew a gentle swelling

Around the block she pushed a baby carriage

Above the door her father kept a shotgun

(the following delivered on-tune, but slow, mournful, with exaggerated wailing)
Upon a grave she placed a purple flower
She placed in in the springtime, and in the month of May
And if you asked her why the hell she placed it (then, with sudden speed, anger and great volume:)
She placed it for her Yuai who was six f***ing feet away!

Six away! (six away!)... etc.

I was looking it up today because yesterday, May Day, was sort of a "high holiday" for our group, full of some goofy rituals, so I was reminiscing.

Subject: Lyr Add: SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (Andrews Sisters
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Jun 13 - 11:18 AM

I think this commercial recording was fairly popular. Although its ethos seems to stem from WW2, it didn't appear until 1949.

SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON
As sung by the Andrews Sisters

1. Round her neck she wore a yellow ribbon.
She wore it in the winter and the merry month of May.
When I asked her "Why the yellow ribbon?"
She said, "It's for my lover who is far, far away."
Far away (far away), far away (far away),
She said, "It's for my lover who is far, far away."
Far away (far away), far away (far away),
She said, "It's for my lover who is far, far away."

2. When at first she met her winsome Johnny,
He wasn't sure her heart was pure; her eyes were far too bold.
Round her neck he tied a yellow ribbon.
He tied a yellow ribbon 'cause it matched her hair of gold,
Hair of gold, hair of gold.
He tied a yellow ribbon 'cause it matched her hair of gold,
Hair of gold, hair of gold.
He tied a yellow ribbon though her eyes were far too bold.

3. If perchance you spy a lovely maiden,
And by her side there walks with pride a Johnny strong and gay,
Round her neck there is a yellow ribbon,
No matter how you love her, please stay far, far away.
Far away (far away), far away (far away),
No matter how you love her, please stay far, far away.
Far away (far away), far away (far away),
Her love is for another, so stay far, far away.

REPEAT VERSE 1.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: Joe_F
Date: 09 Jun 13 - 12:11 AM

A curious variant, sung by my mother & probably learned by her early in the 20th century, has only the first verse, but resembles the last version in being extended:

Around her neck she wore a yellow ribbon,
She wore it in the winter and the summertime, they say,
And if you asked her why she always wore it,
She wore it for her lover, who was far, far away --
Far away, far away,
Where they're milking cows and mowing hay.
Around her neck she wore a yellow ribbon,
She wore it for her lover, who was far, far away.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 09 Jun 13 - 01:58 AM

Is there any truth in the statement that I came across, I forget where, that the ribbon was yellow because this was originally a Civil War song from the Yankee side, and the yellow ribbon the girl was to wear in memory of her absent lover serving in the war was to represent the gold stripe down the side of the Yankee cavalrymen's blue trousers?

All this, of course, before all the IMO tiresome 'wheeling perambulators &c' variants caught on, to ruin and render unsingable ever again with infantile sniggering suggestiveness yet another good song, alas.

The John Wayne film She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, based on the song, one of the Fort Apache trilogy, is certainly about a US Cavalryman, in the Sioux Wars [Little Bighorn], 1876.

And wasn't the pop song about Tying A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree, 1973, about the returning prisoner hoping his girlfriend will thus welcome him home, based on the same tradition? See Wikipedia entry 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree'.

~M~

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 09 Jun 13 - 02:08 AM

i.e., of course, the John Ford film starring John Wayne.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: Lighter
Date: 09 Jun 13 - 09:58 AM

M, I've looked into that story.

The song hasn't been found (or even mentioned) in any form before 1917. The elaborate tin-pan alley song may or may not have been built upon an older chorus. Certainly the similarity of the lyrics to those of the older "All 'Round my Hat" suggests both derivation and some kind of 19th century existence - conceivably in the British army.

Confederate cavalry uniforms also featured the gold trouser stripe.

There's no real evidence one way or another as to why the ribbon should have been yellow (except for the vital fact that it scans better than "red," "blue," or "green") and no evidence either that the song antedates World War I.

The various colored stripes disappeared from everyday ("fatigue")uniforms when the U.S. Army and Marine Corps switched from blue to olive drab in 1902. Some army dress ("service") uniforms still retain the gold stripe. And they're still blue.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 09 Jun 13 - 12:08 PM

Thanks, Lighter. In that case, it appears that the supposed 'derivation' is in itself a bit of folklore; or, as Peter Opie put it to me once when I interviewed the Opies for Folk Review*, a bit of 'folklore about folklore'.

~M~

* issue for July 1974