Donovan - Mellow Yellow (2025 Stereo Mix)

"Mellow Yellow" is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. Released in the US in 1966, it reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside the US, "Mellow Yellow" peaked at No. 8 in the UK in early 1967.

The song was rumoured to be about smoking dried banana skins, which was believed to be a hallucinogenic drug in the 1960s, though this aspect of bananas has since been debunked. According to Donovan's liner notes for the album Donovan's Greatest Hits, the rumour that one could get high from smoking dried banana skins was started by Country Joe McDonald in 1966, and Donovan heard the rumour three weeks before "Mellow Yellow" was released as a single.

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. 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."

Donovan had originally written the song as a throwaway sing-a-long for private parties, and was surprised when producer Mickie Most chose it to be the follow up single to "Sunshine Superman". The song was arranged by session musician John Paul Jones and became one of his first to achieve international success. At first Donovan was disappointed in the horn sound, until Jones came up with the idea to use "hats" (horn mutes) to achieve the required "mellow" mood. In addition, Donovan tuned his acoustic guitar to a D-major drone to mimic slide blues players.

Paul McCartney can be heard as one of the background revelers on this track but contrary to rumour, the "quite rightly" whispering line in the chorus is not McCartney, but rather Donovan himself. Donovan had a small part in coming up with the lyrics for "Yellow Submarine", so McCartney returned the favor by helping out on the title track and playing uncredited bass guitar on portions of the Mellow Yellow album.