Yellow Ribbon

The yellow ribbon is used for various symbolic purposes. It is often worn on one's person or tied around a tree.

The song/poem "She wore a yellow ribbon" has appeared in various forms for at least four centuries. It is based upon the same general theme: A woman of destiny is under some sort of test or trial as she waits for her beloved to return. Will she be true to him? This seems to be the lingering question and the basis for a great unfolding drama.

The song appears to have been brought to America from Europe by English settlers. The origin of the yellow ribbons seems likely to have come from out of the Puritan heritage. It was during the English Civil War that the Puritan Army of English Parliament wore yellow ribbons and yellow sashes onto the battlefield.

Yellow is the official color of the armor branch of the U.S. Army, used in insignia, etc., and depicted in Hollywood movies by the yellow neckerchief adorning latter-half 19th century, horse-mounted U.S. Cavalry soldiers. However, a review of the U.S. War Department's Regulations for the Uniform and Dress of the Army of the United States (1872, 1898) reveals that a neckerchief, of any color, was not an item required by dress code. Despite this, neckerchiefs were a popular accessory employed by cavalrymen to cope with the frequently dusty environs. The specific association of the yellow neckerchief with the U.S. Cavalry may have arisen from a work of popular American West artist Frederic Remington—Lieutenant Powhatan H. Clarke, Tenth Cavalry (1888).

In the United States military, the symbol of the yellow ribbon is used in a popular marching song. The first version copyrighted was the 1917 version by George A. Norton, which he titled 'Round Her Neck She Wears a Yeller Ribbon" (For Her Lover Who Is Far, Far Away). While he tells in the song about the love between Susie Simpkins and her soldier lover Silas Hubbard, his chorus goes:

The lyrics were altered and the song was titled She Wore a Yellow Ribbon by Russ Morgan for the 1949 movie of the same name. This was performed by several popular musicians of the 1940s, including Mitch Miller and The Andrews Sisters. The Tanner Sisters recorded their version in London on December 30, 1949. It was released by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 9873.

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