#Mellow yellow commercial code#

That was before the hippie scene in San Francisco went bad because of the money everyone was making off drugs, et cetera. We stuck out like sore thumbs, but everyone was really cool and it didn't seem to matter that we weren't dressed like all of them. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Just remembered that we even went to the extent of making our own peace sign pendants from thin copper rods and solder in Metal Shop so we might fit in to the crowd.

#Mellow yellow commercial code#

Mello Yello Cherry was released in response to Mountain Dew Code Red. There have been three flavored variants of Mello Yello. It was introduced in the latter part of 1979 to compete with PepsiCo's Mountain Dew. What a fantastic period to have lived in. Mello Yello is a caffeinated, citrus-flavored soft drink produced and distributed by the Coca-Cola Company. Quite an eye bulging experience for 3 - 17 year-old guys at the time! Sure wish someone would organize one more love-in just to have the chance to relive that day. Some of them were so high on other drugs they never realized it when the sheets fell off. Will never forget the beautiful girls walking around with nothing but a white sheet wrapped around them. Well, besides rasping our lungs out, it didn't do a thing, but we sure had a great time. So we thought, 'What the Heck! Let's try it!'. When we arrived at Golden Gate Park sure enough, all of the hippies were smoking what they called 'Mellow Yellow'! We asked one guy what the high was like and he said it just mellowed you out and it was perfectly legal to smoke it. So one day we loaded up one of our buddy's cars and headed out for San Francisco from LA during the Easter Break. Influenced lyrically and musically by the contemporary themes that abounded in the countercultural movement.General CommentWhen this song first came out we thought it was about smoking the white stuff scraped from the inside of banana peels, too. It is clear then, that Donovan’s classic was a product of its time. Here, it also carried a sexual nature, referring to Mrs Marion Bloom’s derriere. Furthermore, the words “mellow yellow” appear on page 719 of the first American edition of James Joyce’s classic, Ulysses. This might possibly have influenced his decision to feature his song’s titular colour. Although trippy and hallucinogenic in composition, lyrically, ‘Mellow Yellow’ touches on the era’s other hottest topic, sex.Īdditionally, Donovan had helped devise the Beatles ‘Yellow Submarine’s lyrics from earlier in ’66. In 2011, Donovan claimed the song is “about being cool, laid-back, and also the electrical bananas that were appearing on the scene - which were ladies’ vibrators.” So there we go the quintessentially Donovan song was indicative of the era, just not in the way we thought. For anyone born after then, this is a slang term for a vibrator. The song’s mentioning of an “electrical banana” gives it away to anyone born before 1960. In fact, Donovan claims to have heard the rumour only three weeks before ‘Mellow Yellow’ was released as a single.ĭonovan has since cleared away the forest of rumours sourcing the song’s provenance. According to the liner notes for Donovan’s Greatest Hits, the rumour asserting the banana’s medicinal properties was espoused by Country Joe McDonald in 1966. Of course, that theory has since been debunked, so don’t be getting any ideas. This rumour sounds so ridiculous, even today.

Initially, the song was rumoured to be about smoking dried banana skins, which were rumoured to have psychedelic properties in the ’60s. QUEEN THE LABEL - COMFORTER - MELLOW YELLOW Our best selling comforters are back in new prints Beautifully designed custom prints that come in 3 prints, its the perfect light quilt cover to. In fact, ‘Mellow Yellow’ was steeped in myth almost instantly after release. However, Donovan has dispelled this myth.

It was also rumoured to have been McCartney whispering the slightly creepy “quite rightly” in the chorus. It is also alleged that McCartney played bass in parts of the album Mellow Yellow but was uncredited. The Beatles bassist lends his hand to the song with a clap and the cheer at the end. Showing that Donovan’s illustrious list of friends did not end there, his quintessential song features an uncredited Paul McCartney. It was arranged by none other than John Paul Jones, the only member of the future Led Zeppelin we have not mentioned till this point. The title track and solo single from Mellow Yellow, the song is a psychedelic trip in of itself. One of the hits that culminated in Donovan’s ubiquity was 1966’s ‘Mellow Yellow’.