Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree covering the event described use of the tune as a protest song. Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" is a song by Tony Orlando and Dawn. It was written by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown and produced by Hank Medress and Dave Appell, with Motown/Stax backing vocalist Telma Hopkins, Joyce Vincent Wilson and her sister Pamela Vincent on backing vocals. It was a worldwide hit for the group in 1973. The single reached the top 10 in ten countries, in eight of which it topped the charts.
Tony Orlando and Dawn its predecessor (with sketches featuring sarcastic back-and-forth banter between Orlando, Hopkins and Vincent, similar to the sarcastic dialogue between Sonny and Cher) and became a Top 20 hit. With a new record label (Elektra), the group continued their string of hit singles during the show's run, hitting the Top 10 on the Hot 100 and adult contemporary charts, including "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)" (a reworking of Jerry Butler's "He Will Break Your Heart") (#1), from the album of the same name, and "Mornin' Beautiful" (#14). In 1975 a remake of the Sam Cooke song "Cupid", from