Did the Yellow Ribbon thing originiate with the Tony Orlando and Dawn

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

song, "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree"? If so, what were the next steps in its morphing into the current generic "Support the Troops" symbol?

That song was about a guy coming home from prison.

Was it adopted as a returning Vietnam vet thing? Or for the Iranian Embassy hostages?

[supernova]

1. The Civil War

My understanding is it began with the Civil War. People already home would take the gold piping from uniforms and display them as a way to remember comrades. Today, gold piping is hard to come by if you don't have a uniform, so yellow ribbon substitutes.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. Interesting bit of history, I did not know that. Thanks.

[Bridget Burke]

3. No. The custom has old roots.

Go back to "Around Her Neck She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"--I've read the "yellow" stood for the yellow piping on cavalry uniforms. The lady in question was waiting for her military sweetheart. Less respectable versions of the song refer to baby carriages & fathers with shotguns.

There's another folk tale of a man returning from prison, looking for a ribbon symbolizing he's welcome home--not necessarily a yellow ribbon. That story was the basis of the "hit" song.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. Interesting--after these replies I googled it and found this site...

http://www.loc.gov/folklife/ribbons/ribbons.html

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

6. Seventeen year of continuous airplay?!

That what they calculate was the running time of "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" in the first months of release. Seventeen years of Tony Orlando and Dawn? I'm rather do prison time.

[Az]

5. Orlando was sued for plagirism due to the song

Seems there was an article written years before he wrote the song detailing a story nearly identitical to his song.

[On the Road]

7. I Believe I Read That Article as a Child

in my grandmother's Reader's Digest. In this case, the prison inmate didn't know if his FAMILY (not his girlfriend) forgave him an asked them to tie a handkerchief around a tree branch in front of their house if they still wanted to see him.

Sappy song, but doesn't sound like plagarism to me.