FIRST TIME HEARING Tony Orlando & Dawn - Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree REACTION 

As I'm sure others will mention, this song became a cultural landmark in American history, during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979. People with loved ones being held, and just Americans in general, began tying yellow ribbons around trees to show their support and love, and hope for their safe return. You'd see them all around the country. And it was all inspired by this song.

This was a monster hit back in the day. It was used to welcome military people back from service as well as anyone who was incarcerated. You heard this song all the time on the radio. It really is a feel-good song and Tony really delivers on this. Thanks for the great reaction. 👏👏🇨🇦

This song is where the whole ribbon thing for a cause originated. It was first adopted for soldiers coming home to make them feel welcome, and then just worn on your chest to show support for soldiers... and now pink ribbons for breast cancer supporters and a dozen other colors. This song started it all!

Several years ago here in my Canadian neighbourhood a neighbour's son was returning from military service in Afghanistan. To welcome him home, his family tied thousands of yellow ribbons around neighbourhood trees & power poles. It was heartwarming to see.

It doesn't matter if it's military coming home, someone released from prison, or any other reason someone's been gone, that yellow ribbon is a testament to love

I'm a 63 year old man. I always cry at the end when he sees 100 yellow ribbons! That is so heart warming!!!!

The joy on Amber's face when he saw the all the ribbons was beautiful to watch. That last part gives me the feels every time. Such a sweet song.

The pure joy on y'all faces when you heard him say "100 yellow ribbons" is how this song makes me feel each time I hear it. Such a heartwarming act of love! ❤😊

Amber, what a sweet soul you have. World needs more like you.GOD Bless

This was the first time using ribbons to symbolize something. As you know we all jumped on it and there are colored ribbons for EVERYTHING!!!

The yellow ribbon symbolizes you have a loved one in the military who isn’t forgotten.

Fun Fact, Thelma Hopkins one of the members of Dawn was not only a singer, Hopkins' delivered the line "shut your mouth" on Isaac Hayes' song "Shaft", she was also an actress with lots of tv credits.

It was cute watching you two jump for joy when he said "a hundred yellow ribbons." 😂😂 Great reaction to a great song. 👍

This brought tears to my eyes. When the hostages were freed from Iran, they were flown into Newburgh NY, then a motorcade of their busses drove down 9W. It seemed all of Cornwall NY lined the road cheering, waving, screaming blessings and waving flags. Our family was on the median jumping up and down waving and crying happy tears. One of the happiest memories of my life. Thanks for reminding me. ❤️

Military families started displaying yellow ribbons to show that they had loved ones that they wanted home. It comes from this song.

This is where it all started :) You'll see it most often with military families, but occasionally driving around you'll see a yellow ribbon tied around a tree. Thank Tony Orlando and Dawn.

I remember watching their primetime tv variety show in the 70s. Everyone had a variety show in the 70s. Sonny and Cher, Donny and Marie, The Carpenters, and on and on. This was a huge hit. I didn't know what a yellow Ribbon was for, until I heard this song. It was for someone in prison or a war prisoner. You would have a Big yellow ribbon in your window or somewhere, so your neighbors would know a loved one was not able to come home for some reason. Usually, it was because of war. A gold star in the window, meant a family member of this home was killed in war.

The song that popularized the tradition of tying yellow ribbons in anticipation of a loved one coming home. It was also Tony Orlando and Dawn's biggest hit and the #1 song of 1973

This was one of their greatest songs. Afterwards the yellow ribbon was used for our returning service men, it was beautiful to see homes with Ribbons 🎀

The feel good songs of my generation!!!!!

This is a trip straight back to the 70's.

A big #1 worldwide hit and the top selling single in the USA and UK in 1973. Tony Orlando had a couple of minor hits in the early '60s as a teen idol type and then went on to become a music executive. Around 1970 he was asked to sing lead on a nice-sounding pop song that would be credited to a group called "Dawn" that really didn't exist. That song was "Candida" and it became a surprise Top Five hit so Tony was suddenly back in the singing business but also had to come up with some singers to complete the group so they could perform on-stage and make more recordings. He contacted a couple of back-up singers who'd recorded for his record label, future actress Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson (who was ready to leave the biz), and suddenly a "real" group existed, and it became Tony Orlando and Dawn. Many hits and a TV show followed.

This song was almost an anthem back in 1980 do to the Iran hostage crisis. All across the country folks were tying a yellow ribbon around oak trees, any kind of tree, to support the hostages. Our nation was united in the hopes of their safety & freedom. I still have a copy of the cable message (yes no internet back then lol) I sent to them when they were freed! It was a happy day for all of us when they came home! :)

The song was written based on a true story of a man returning from prison and wrote to his wife and said that if she still wanted him, to tie a yellow ribbon around the the trunk of the tree in their front yard. When he came home the wife had put yellow ribbons on the trunk, the branches the fence posts and even the mail box.

This was such a meaningful song when I got out of the Navy. Not necessarily prison.

This was a huge hit for them. All the Vietnam soldiers grabbed onto this and it became a thing. Great feel good song from back in the day.

I met Tony Orlando in Branson. We went to his show just because it was one that had tickets available. Besides being a great performer, he told wonderful stories about his childhood and career. He was a very warm person. He shook all of our hands and pulled my boyfriend's sister up on stage and sang to her. After I told a co-worker about Branson she took her disabled nephew on a trip there and met Tony. She said he took several photos with them. When he saw he had worn his sunglasses, he took all the photos over without his glasses on. He also spent a lot of time talking with her nephew. It was nice to meet someone who was such a warm and lovely human being❤.

Jay & Amber, you'll love their "Candida" and "Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose"!!!!

My parents raised me right, I love this so much... it’s a deceptively uplifting song. ❤️

Remained at Number 1 for 4 weeks. This was a major hit for Tony Orlando and Dawn. Over 2,000 versions of this song have been recorded. Versions by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and get ready Amber....Tom Jones. After the release of this song families of military men and women started tying yellow ribbons around trees awaiting the arrival home of their loved ones. 💕💕 Great reaction to a great song.You two are priceless. 🤗🤗 Buckets of Maple Syrup love from Canada ❤️❤️🇨🇦 🇨🇦

"Put the blame on me... if I dont see that yellow ribbon tied around that old oak tree"... thats the saddest part that no one wants to have happen. The only real downer part to this song. Most of it is feelings of happiness and being grateful to be home. I love this song though. It ecompasses that joy a soldier feels coming off a bus at the bus stop and is walking down the street to their home/family. It goes very well with videos of soldiers suprising their family members at work/school or at home. Thank you to all veterans for your service!

This song and a few others of that era-Jim Croce, The Carpenters-immediately transport me to my childhood and listening to AM radio in the car with my family and solidifying my lifelong love affair with music. I was lucky to grow up in that simpler time.

The simplicity you’re picking up on is the era of the music. The 70s was just that-simple and a time when organic relationships were everything. It was what life was all about.

I can’t believe after all these years, and the billion times I heard this song on the radio in the 70s, this still brought a tear to my eye.

I was 12 when this song came out and it made me so happy! She tied 100 ribbons! The whole bus was cheering! You don’t have to be defined by your mistakes! You can screw up and still be loved! It just made me feel good when I first heard it and it still does!

I loved your reaction when he said he sees 100 yellow ribbons, classic

This was a welcome home song for the troops coming home from the Gulf war. There were yellow ribbons everywhere.

Your guys reactions when he saw all the ribbons was the BEST!!

Watching both of you reactions to the "100 ribbon" lyrics, is priceless - it's the mere fact that these types of songs makes you actually LISTEN to the story being told. I've seen the yellow ribbons tied around my neighbour's trees in Toronto, CANADA back in 1979 and I never understood the rationale until my older sister explained the symbolism of this song and those returning from war or incarceration "doing their time" waiting for loved ones reception upon their return.

they Were one group / Trio..I grew up listening to them..Love listening to them..

The tradition of tying of the yellow ribbon around a tree for the soldiers came from this song. This song was a huge hit in the 1970s and had that affect on the culture.

Immediately yes! I’m young and like 40 but I fell in love with this song when I was 10 listening to oldies with my mom. Tying a yellow ribbon is significant because when soldiers go off to a war their families tied yellow ribbons around the trees in their yard. I don’t know if he was singing about being a soldier but he may have been singing (you’re right about jail) he said he’s still in prison and he needs a yellow ribbon to set him free.

Knowing the outcome of this song it was pure joy watching your reaction to the final verse. Much love from England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

THIS song IS the inspiration for the tradition of the Yellow ribbons for a far away loved one.

I always cry at the ending of this song. Yes I'm a guy. I can't imagine someone waiting three years for me. That was a lot of love for her man.

They don't make like this music anymore, songs with a story. Thank God we have these songs in our memories and in our hearts.

This song was the genesis of the practice of tying ribbons around things to welcome love one home.

Such beautiful, loving souls you two have to get so invested in an old pop tune....

This song actually STARTED the whole trend...

I can't imagine anyone in North America who had gotten to adulthood without hearing this song. Funny story about this song: I'm a private tutor and I've often used it as an example of modern poetry. I asked one student if he understood what the ending meant. He said, "Yes. The guy has 100 girlfriends.

I gladly left this song in my youth BUT I had to jump to the ending because I knew Amber would really enjoy it. (ie: "A hundred yellow ribbons...")

Tie a yellow ribbon still stands today. Yellow ribbons are still tied today for our men n women who serve.

Your reactions to the "100 yellow ribbons part" was classic !

I wish y'all were old enough to have experienced the cultural significance of this song in the USA. In November 1979, Iran experienced a revolution, and 52 Americans working in our embassy in Tehran were taken hostage by the new religious despots in charge of the country. People all over the USA began tying yellow ribbons on things and putting yellow ribbons on their front doors to show their concern and love for the hostages. On Jan. 20, 1981, after 444 days in captivity in terrible conditions, the brand-new American president, Ronald Reagan, announced at his inauguration that the hostages were being released. The country went wild! Yellow ribbons were literally EVERYWHERE to welcome them home. I was 11 years old, and I'll never forget it. It was an amazing moment in time, and this song was on the radio CONSTANTLY. So it has real meaning and brings back a lot of memories for those of us old enough to remember that. So glad you enjoyed it!

Any time you see a ribbon sticker on the back of a car, or see a ribbon pin on someone's lapel, you should know this is how that all started.

This song has the sweetest lyrics ever.

Your reaction to 100 yellow ribbons at the end of the song is absolutely joyous!!! Loved it❤

We tied yellow ribbons around trees and wore yellow ribbons pinned to our clothes during the Gulf War. So it’s very associated with our military soldiers coming home and showing that we miss them and they’re not forgotten and also to a lesser degree the incarcerated coming home which is what this song is about. This song was a huge hit and you heard it every where and everyone knew it by heart, I still do!❤

Tony Orlando and Dawn were very big in the 70's...had a hit show on tv too! I remember them growing up, yellow ribbons and all! 🎗️

The use of a yellow ribbon as a symbol of waiting for the return of a loved one goes back centuries. Before Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree there was the song She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, which was written in 1917. Tony Orlando & Dawn had a comedy-variety TV show from 1974 through 1976. And as many have mentioned already, this song became very popular during the Iran hostage crisis that went from late 1979 through early 1981. Other songs by Tony Orlando & Dawn include Candida; Knock Three Times; Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose?; Steppin' Out (Gonna Boogie Tonight); and He Don't Love You (Like I Love You).

Candida - Tony Orlando and Dawn is another Calypso type great song by them!

One of the members of Dawn was Telma Hopkins. She has had a very successful career as an actor. They all ended up with a variety show on TV, that I remember as a kid, then I remember seeing her on Bosom Buddies with Tom Hanks. She spent 8 years on Family Matters.

It was a simpler time when music could just be innocent, happy and fun! There were many hits like this especially in the 70s and it was so much fun because I was a young black kid that was 12 when this came out, so you can just imagine how this hit! You guys’ reactions help us remember what it was like to hear these songs for the very first time🙂 brings a tear to my eyes 🥲

Coming from a '73 baby, this song is a HUGE part of my childhood, specifically the Thursday evenings that I used to spend with my grandpa (a WWII vet) while grandma was out playing bridge with her ladies. Grandpa would make himself a scotch on the rocks and me a shirley temple, then he'd put on records on his hi-fi in the living room that we'd listen to all evening. When this one came on we'd dance around the living room, aka I'd stand on his toes as he'd dance me around. I can't usually get through this one without happy tears from the memories.

Another gem from the ‘70s (it was actually the number 1 song in all of 1973). And it’s “deceptively simple”. Notice that unlike other catchy pop songs that repeat short segments of the melody over and over, this melody barely repeats through the verses and chorus, but is still so infectious. Lots of songs like this in that decade. PS - I really loved the reaction you two had when it came to the part where 100 yellow ribbons were tied on the old oak tree - priceless! It’s things like this that make your reactions special. Keep up the great work!

All us 70's kids LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the yellow ribbon theme! We used it all the time. Your reactions at the made me smile. Memories.

Your look of hope when he said 100 yellow ribbons around the ole old tree was FABULOUS! I was glad to be here and witness it! Thank you!

The universal fear that we all have that binds us all is the fear of loving someone who don't love us back . . . . that fear is in what draws you into the song. It's universal. You understand this angst. Then the other universal joy is finally finding someone who loves you as much as you love them. This is the joy and happiness that bring everyone to tears at the end because we all either know this joy . . or have never savored such joy.

Loved how invested Amber is in whether or not the ribbons were on the tree! Sooo sweet!!!!

Being a child of the ‘60’s-‘70s I always related this to Vietnam Vets coming home like my cousins ❤️

Back when damn could get your song kicked off the radio, it didn't hurt this one because it was so sweet and positive and heart warming.

Songs back then were so great! Great music and not so depressing and serious for the most part.

First, thanks for making me smile today. Your reactions to the 100 yellow ribbons was PRICELESS! Second, this song was the basis for the ribbons we see for various causes. It all started when 52 Americans were held hostage by Iranian “students” for 444 days from November 1979 - January 1981. People tied yellow ribbons around anything that didn’t move sending love and prayers for the hostages. After the hostages were freed (inauguration day 1981) the yellow ribbon became a symbol for anyone missing. Later other colors were used to symbolize other causes.

As a Gulf War Vet , I still get teary eyed every time I hear this song, Coming home after gulf war in 91 all the Yellow Ribbons I saw everywhere Yep still get choked up, Much Love U 2 ... ❤

That song is a true masterpiece! And the ending always fills my heart with joy and my eyes with tears because although he wanted to see that one ribbon he knew he might not see any ribbons but he was totally wrong because she even more wanted him back and blew him away with 100 yellow ribbons above and beyond anything he ever expected! Totally awesome story in a totally awesome song. One of my all time favorites!

My Mom's Favorite song and when we had our Grandfathers house in Sierra Madre it had a 100 year old oak tree out front. My sister and I scattered her ashes around that tree while listening to this song. Wonderful memories back in the day watching their tv show.

Wasn't it so great that a song could deliver so much in such a short amount of time? AM radio with songs running 3-4 minutes was the best.

The song was written with the narrator of the story being a man who was getting out of prison, but so much of the lyrics were easily interpreted by many people as being about a man who was coming home from Vietnam. This song launched a new American tradition--the yellow ribbon, a symbol that the person coming home is still welcome and wanted--especially coming back from a war. Interestingly, the song is credited as performed by Dawn, Featuring Tony Orlando. But I hear very little backing vocals by Dawn to my ear. Dawn's vocals were more prominent I think, on many of their other songs, but on this I mainly hear Tony Orlando. They had a variety show after this song was a huge hit. Variety shows were all the rage in the 70s. Again, we see Vietnam influencing -- maybe not so much the song itself--but how folk interpreted it. Unlike many songs from this era--it starts off with a kind of sad feeling to it, but the ending this time is a happy ending--and a beautiful one too. Almost enough to bring tears of joy, rather than sorrow. It tells a wonderful story. Yellow ribbons around trees for people coming home from war--this song started that tradition.

You are both so wonderful...Amber's unadulterated joy when she hears about the yellow ribbons gave me yet another reason to weep with joy for the bezillionth time over this truly happy song about love & redemption. ✌️♥️🎶

Brings tears to your eyes every time ....

This song reminds me of my mom more than any other. It was a huge hit, spending 4 weeks at #1 in 1973. THIS was the greatest reaction in the middle of a song since "Afternoon Delight"! I got the tears, big-time when I saw your reactions to the great reveal in the bridge!!! 😊

Quite much played in my childhood. Know it by heart still. Such a feel good song.

You guys are too cute!! The way you reacted to the 100 yellow ribbons, so stinking cute!! ❤

This group originated as a studio project not intended as a touring act. Tony Orlando did lead vocals and songwriters Toni Wine and Ellie Greenwich sang background vocals. They just called it as by Dawn. After the success of the singles Candida and Knock Three Times they wanted a more permanent touring act so they recruited Telma Hopkins and Joyce Wilson as background singers with continued success and even a TV show.

This song was wonderful for those of us who had friends and loved ones who were incarcerated. For me, it will always be about that.

After fifty or so years have passed I can finally listen to this song again without turning it off. It was played SO often I couldn't take it any more.

Great example how not every #1 hit has to be an overwhelming, overproduced musical masterpiece! A sweet sentiment n catchy tune well-sung became not just a huge hit, but a cultural practice that endures today. It STARTED with this song!

The yellow ribbon tradition may go way back, possibly hundreds of years. There was a song, from about 400 years ago called She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, that was associated with women wearing the ribbon while waiting for their soldiers to return home. In the 1940's there was a John Wayne movie by the same name. He was a US Cavalry officer and his girlfriend wore a yellow ribbon on her hat or in her hair, to show the rest of the world that her heart was taken. The Tony Orlando song was just a new iteration of this theme. I loved hearing it on the radio, and we would often see ribbons on trees to welcome home soldiers. A very touching tradition. Thanks for your fun reactions!

I remember they had a weekly variety show when I was a kid. You guys should do a reaction to The Captain & Tenille “Love Will Keep Us Together “ or “Muskrat Love”. They also had a TV show in the 70s .

My mom and dad did this for me. When I got to come home. After I got shot up in dessert storm. Dad was a Vietnam vet that did 3 tours. So he knew what it meant for me to see that ribbon. Then mom and I did it for our son after his two and a half years in Afghanistan. We put yellow ribbons the down the whole street(250 yds). All the neighbors lined the street. His cabbie was in tears as he dropped him off. Even stayed for a bit of the "welcome home" party.

Loved your anticipation in waiting for that final line! Brilliant. This song was so huge back in its day. I remember it on the radio all the time.

Look at you, Amber, jumping for joy to a happy ending! You are delightful.

This was a massive hit back in the day, so much so it got way overplayed and became almost annoying. But hearing it years later through fresh ears it sounds beautiful and the ending always makes me smile. Thanks Jay and Amber, you guys rock! 🤗♥️💯

I love how damned excited Amber was when he said 100 yellow ribbons 05:00

Loved this song! Used to watch their variety show when I was a kid.

Love this the symbolism of a yellow ribbon still lives on ...for those lost or missing as well

I love this one so much, it means so much to so many! And I so appreciate you young ones listening to the best decades of music! ❤️❤️❤️

People would literally Tie a yellow ribbons around their trees in front and this was on the radio all the time and it was done and school productions and it was just everywhere. And it's a beautiful song.

This was a hit in the Spring of 1973. It was the big radio song just before "Bad Bad Lee Roy Brown" by Jim Croce.

This song is what started the tradition of the yellow ribbons. The song is based in an urban legend and was a TV Special I remember from the early 70's. The origin of the idea of a yellow ribbon as remembrance may have been the 19th-century practice that some women allegedly had of wearing a yellow ribbon in their hair to signify their devotion to a husband or sweetheart serving in the U.S. Cavalry. The song "'Round Her Neck She Wears a Yeller Ribbon", tracing back centuries but copyrighted by George A. Norton in 1917, and later inspiring the John Wayne movie She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, is a reference to this.[4][5] The symbol of a yellow ribbon became widely known in civilian life in the 1970s as a reminder that an absent loved one, either in the military or in jail, would be welcomed home on their return. In October 1971, newspaper columnist Pete Hamill wrote a piece for the New York Post called "Going Home".[6] In it, he told a variant of the story, in which college students on a bus trip to the beaches of Fort Lauderdale make friends with an ex-convict who is watching for a yellow handkerchief on a roadside oak in Brunswick, Georgia. Hamill claimed to have heard this story in oral tradition. In June 1972, nine months later, Reader's Digest reprinted "Going Home". Also in June 1972, ABC-TV aired a dramatized version of it in which James Earl Jones played the role of the returning ex-con. According to L. Russell Brown, he read Hamill's story in the Reader's Digest, and suggested to his songwriting partner Irwin Levine that they write a song based on it.[7] Levine and Brown then registered for copyright the song which they called "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree". At the time, the writers said they heard the story while serving in the military. Pete Hamill was not convinced and filed suit for infringement. Hamill dropped his suit after folklorists working for Levine and Brown turned up archival versions of the story that had been collected before "Going Home" had been written.[4] In 1991, Brown said the song was based on a story he had read about a soldier headed home from the Civil War who wrote his beloved that if he was still welcome, she should tie a handkerchief around a certain tree. He said the handkerchief was not particularly romantic, so he and Mr. Levine changed it to a yellow ribbon.[8] Levine and Brown first offered the song to Ringo Starr, but Al Steckler of Apple Records told them that they should be ashamed of the song and described it as "ridiculous".[7] The 2008 film The Yellow Handkerchief, conceived as a remake of the original Japanese film, uses a plot based on the Pete Hamill story.[9]