Inappropriate symbology

[jbsegal]

I've been meaning to look this up for years, on and off. The current round of Yellow Ribbons has really been making me wonder...so google to the rescue...everyone using yellow ribbons to signal that they're waiting for someone to return is also signaling that the person they're waiting for is a criminal. There's nothing in the song to say "I didn't do it" or "It wasn't my fault", there's only "I've been in jail for 3 years. If you didn't want to wait, I understand, it's all my fault anyway."

Good message for a hostage or a soldier.

"Words and Music by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown, copyright 1972; performed by Tony Orlando and Dawn, 1973. This song began to be used for patriotic purposes approximately 8 years after it's initial release."

I'm comin' home, I've done my time
Now I've got to know what is and isn't mine
If you received my letter telling you I'd soon be free
Then you'll know just what to do
If you still want me
If you still want me

Whoa, tie a yellow ribbon 'round the ole oak tree
It's been three long years
Do ya still want me? (still want me)
If I don't see a ribbon 'round the ole oak tree
I'll stay on the bus
Forget about us
Put the blame on me
If I don't see a yellow ribbon 'round the ole oak tree

Bus driver, please look for me
'cause I couldn't bear to see what I might see
I'm really still in prison
And my love, she holds the key
A simple yellow ribbon's what I need to set me free
I wrote and told her please

. . .

Comments

pedantic: me.

[mizarchivist]

Does it have to be an oak tree?

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

I wondered about that too during the Iran hostage crisis thing. Funny how symbols become symbols, even if it's due to a misunderstanding of what's really happening? Symbolism changes like language, example the usage of the word "gay" since 1900.

[avram]

everyone using yellow ribbons to signal that they're waiting for someone to return is also signaling that the person they're waiting for is a criminal

I don't think that follows logically. Must a symbol mean only exactly what it was first coined to mean, for all time? Is the magen david only forever the symbol on David's shield, the cross a device of torture and execution? The swastika a symbol of the sun, or good luck, or femininity (depending on where in the world you are)? Is December the tenth month of the year?

[sarahshevett.livejournal.com]

Of course the examples you have set here are symbols that have changed over generations, maybe hundreds or thousands of years.
The Yellow ribbon song is only 30 years old, and being used by the generation that created it in the first place...!

[avram]

But there was no widespread tradition of using a yellow ribbon at the time the song was written. The tradition dates back to 1980 (the Iran Hostage Crisis), and while Penelope Laingen (the person who started the tradition) was inspired by the song, it doesn't mean that her husband (Bruce Laingen, the US Charge d'Affaires in Tehran) was a criminal.

There was an earlier folk story pretty similar to that told by the song's lyrics, but it involved a white kerchief. It's possible that the switch to yellow ribbon is a conflation with the old song "Round Her Neck She Wears a Yeller Ribbon (For her Lover Who Is Fur, Fur Away)".