9 DECEMBER 1966
Donovan’s ‘Mellow Yellow’ was at its peak position of #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts. A few months later it would climb to #8 in the UK.
By late '66 young Donovan (still only 20 years old) had moved on from more traditional folk fare and his music had taken on a psychedelic hue that brilliantly captured the groovy zeitgeist of the times. Songs like this one provided a commentary on the hip London scene that Donovan moved in, and no doubt the eponymous mellowness had a lot to do with marijuana. There was a rumour that the title referred to the smoking of dried banana leaves (wrongly believed at the time to get you high), and Donovan later admitted that the 'electric banana' was a reference to vibrators.
There are connections between this and other 'yellow' song of 1966. Donovan had a 'small part' in writing the lyrics for the Beatles' 'Yellow Submarine', and Paul McCartney played bass on some of the 'Mellow Yellow' album.
By late '66 young Donovan (still only 20 years old) had moved on from more traditional folk fare and his music had taken on a psychedelic hue that brilliantly captured the groovy zeitgeist of the times. Songs like this one provided a commentary on the hip London scene that Donovan moved in, and no doubt the eponymous mellowness had a lot to do with marijuana. There was a rumour that the title referred to the smoking of dried banana leaves (wrongly believed at the time to get you high), and Donovan later admitted that the 'electric banana' was a reference to vibrators.
There are connections between this and other 'yellow' song of 1966. Donovan had a 'small part' in writing the lyrics for the Beatles' 'Yellow Submarine', and Paul McCartney played bass on some of the 'Mellow Yellow' album.
B-side: 'Sunny South Kensington' (USA), 'Preachin' Love' (UK)
Recorded: October 1966
Released: 24 October 1966 (USA), February 1967 (UK)
Highest chart position: #8 (UK), #2 (US)
Length: 3:42
Label: Epic 5-10098; Pye 7N 17267
Writer: Donovan
Producer: Mickie Most
