100 GREAT SONGS FROM THE BRITISH INVASION: ‘MELLOW YELLOW’ DONOVAN

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100 Great Songs From The British Invasion: 1963-1966. ‘Mellow Yellow’- Donovan. Donovan’s follow up single to his only #1 hit in the US- “Sunshine Superman’- nearly went to #1 itself. ‘Mellow Yellow’ peaked at #2. There was a rumor at the time that smoking dried banana skins-had hallucinogenic effects- it turns out that it was a rumor made up by County Joe McDonald. I wonder how many people tried doing that back in the mid to late 60’s? Donovan of course was hanging out with The Beatles and Dylan at this time- he had a small part in helping with the lyrics to “Yellow Submarine’- and Paul McCartney- appeared on this song- you can hear him in the background- and he played some bass on the Yellow Mellow album. And then there is this- concerning the ‘electrical banana’ reference in the song.

From Wikipedia-

According to The Rolling Stone Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll, he admitted later the song made reference to a vibrator; an “electrical banana” as mentioned in the lyrics.[8] Donovan stated, “I was reading a newspaper and on the back there was an ad for a yellow dildo called the mellow yellow,” he said. “Really, you know the ‘electric banana’ was right in there and gave it away. And that’s what the song’s about.” This definition was re-affirmed in an interview with NME magazine: “it’s about being cool, laid-back, and also the electrical bananas that were appearing on the scene – which were ladies’ vibrators.”

Single: ‘Mellow Yellow’-Donovan/ Written by Donovan/ Record Company- Epic/ Time: 3:42/ Produced by Mickie Most/ Recorded October 1966- Released October 24, 1966 in US-February 1967 in UK/ Peaked at #2 in US Billboard Hot 100, #8 in UK Singles Chart.

2 responses to “100 GREAT SONGS FROM THE BRITISH INVASION: ‘MELLOW YELLOW’ DONOVAN”

  1. The Hippy troubadour strikes again! He put out a few nice tunes- I find I might be out in the garage pottering about and this is Mellow Yellow toon is one that I find I’m mutteringly half-singing, as it emerges from the back part of my mind while I’m looking for that mislaid screwdriver, wrench or whatever. Which reminds me where is that screwdriver…
    Oh, and most educational on the electrical side of things.
    No wonder Mellow Yellow was an, ahem, 60s buzz word.

  2. All the little high school hippie chicks singing his tune and digging on the Pied Piper, if they only knew what the song was really about. Yikes! He could have led millions of them off the cliffs of Dover.

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