I Simply don't get it, do you?

Question

Why would any-one want to tie a yellow ribbon round an old oak tree?

Answer 1

What an awesome question - thanks for asking it - sometimes we don't know that we need a "history" lesson - but when we get one that warms the heart and soothes the soul - has to be heaven sent.....I found the following and have included the link so that all of you can read more about the yellow ribbon custom...

“If the custom of wearing or decorating with or displaying yellow ribbons doesn't trace to the Civil War, where does it come from? It begins, as far as I can tell, not as a custom at all, and not as a song. It begins as a folk tale--a legend, actually. Here it is in the earliest version I've found:

“It is the story of two men in a railroad train. One was so reserved that his companion had difficulty in persuading him to talk about himself. He was, he said at length, a convict returning from five years' imprisonment in a distant prison, but his people were too poor to visit him and were too uneducated to be very articulate on paper. Hence he had written to them to make a sign for him when he was released and came home. If they wanted him, they should put a white ribbon in the big apple tree which stood close to the railroad track at the bottom of the garden, and he would get off the train, but if they did not want him, they were to do nothing and he would stay on the train and seek a new life elsewhere. He said that they were nearing his home town and that he couldn't bear to look. His new friend said that he would look and took his place by the window to watch for the apple tree which the other had described to him.

“In a minute he put a hand on his companion's arm. ‘There it is,’ he cried. ‘It's all right! The whole tree is white with ribbons.’

“That passage comes from, of all places, a 1959 book on prison reform. The title is Star Wormwood, and it was written by the eminent Pennsylvania jurist Curtis Bok. Bok says it was told to him by Kenyon J. Scudder, first superintendent of Chino penitentiary. I take this information as evidence that the story was in oral tradition as early as the mid-1950s.”
Levine, the writer of the modern Tony Orlando hit, commented quite separately from all this that he had intended to use a white ribbon, but could not make it fit into the melody well, so he switched to yellow because he thought it was "musical and romantic."

In his concluding remarks, the late Gerald Parsons lays out these very important words:

“Ultimately, the thing that makes the yellow ribbon a genuinely traditional symbol is neither its age nor its putative association with the American Civil War, but rather its capacity to take on new meanings, to fit new needs and, in a word, to evolve.

“And it is evolving still. During the Persian Gulf Crisis, for example, there emerged a new impulse to combine yellow ribbons with hand-painted signs, American flags, conventional Christmas ornaments, seasonal banners, and other such elements to create elaborate, decorative displays--displays that one scholar has termed ‘folk assemblages.’

“Because the yellow ribbon is very much a living tradition, there is no way to tell who among us may help to steer its course, or in what direction. Last winter, I was in a distant city and needed to buy a spray of flowers. I found a flower shop and explained to the proprietress that I needed an arrangement that would be appropriate for a cemetery ornament. ‘And would you like some yellow ribbon to tie around it,’ she asked matter-of-factly.

“Well, it's a long way from a folktale about an ex-convict's homecoming to an incipient funeral custom. I had to stop and think about that for a minute. But never one to thwart the evolution of a new American custom, I said, ‘Yes, ma'am. I will take some yellow ribbon. Thank you.’”

Answer 2

In the song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" by Tony Orlando and Dawn.......The guy is coming home from being away three long years and asked that his former girl leave out a sign to let him know if he was welcomed back or not. As the bus pulls into his area, he sees a BIG sign welcoming him home------It's an old oak tree tied with hundreds of yellow ribbons welcoming him home! It was a good song! People use them now to welcome home their troops and to let others know they have someone close to them in the service and are awaiting their return!

Answer 3

In the song, by Tony Orlando and Dawn - the guy was getting out of prison and he wanted a sign that the girl still wanted him -so he said to "tie a yellow ribbon" if you still love me. And she ties 100 yellow ribbons on the tree. Very corny, I know.

Answer 4

For the same reason they'd salute the American flag, wear a black arm band, place a hand over their heart to sing, and shed solemn tears in silence.

Answer 5

I have asked these troll many times to F off. They are starving for attention and they keep coming back. At least 400 times. They think by coming back that they are standing their ground. It`s hard too stand your ground when you are in quick sand with 400 avatars screaming in your ear.

Answer 6

Because that is the only tree that will tolerate that color. All the other trees simply refuse to allow it. lol

Answer 7

the oak is something sturdy and will most likely withstand the elements better.... so basicly it's like... hog tying the biggest meanest bull instead of ... a sheep...

Answer 8

yellow ribbons are tied in remembrance of those at war. it is a war time song.

Answer 9

A lot of things about the 70s don't make sense...

Answer 10

To give the chicken a reason to cross the road?