Yellow River (song)
| "Yellow River" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Christie | ||||
| from the album Christie | ||||
| B-side | Down the Mississippi Line | |||
| Released | May 1970 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Genre | Rock, pop rock | |||
| Length | 2:44 | |||
| Label | Pye (UK) Epic (US) | |||
| Writer(s) | Jeff Christie | |||
| Producer | Mike Smith | |||
| Christie singles chronology | ||||
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"Yellow River" is a popular song recorded by the British band Christie. Written by band leader Jeff Christie, the song was offered to The Tremeloes, who recorded it with the intention of releasing it as a single early in 1970. However, after the success of their then most recent single, "Call Me Number One", and after considering it too pop-orientated for their future direction, they decided to follow it up with another of their own compositions, "By The Way", which was only a minor Top 40 success.
Producer Mike Smith therefore took their vocals off the recording and added those of Jeff Christie. Released in May 1970, it became an international hit, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart for one week in June 1970. In the US, it reached number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
The song is the thoughts of a young man whose time in the army (possibly the Vietnam War, given the time the song was recorded) is over and he is looking forward to returning to his home town in the country on Yellow River. The actual location of Yellow River is not known. The British video had the group on a barge sailing down the River Thames through London.
Chart performance
| Country | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Germany | 2 |
| Ireland | 1 |
| The Netherlands[1] | 4 |
| Norway | 1 |
| Switzerland | 4 |
| UK Singles Chart | 1 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 23 |
Other versions
The Tremeloes' version, featuring lead vocals by drummer Dave Munden, has also appeared on various compilations of their greatest hits, both in English and also in Spanish as "No Comprendes", as it appeared as a single by them in Spain and in various South American countries, where they had always been popular.
"Yellow River" has spawned a host of cover versions by artists as diverse as R.E.M., Leapy Lee, Elton John, Middle of the Road, Tubeless Hearts and a French version "L'Amérique" by Joe Dassin released at the same moment in May 1970?, as well as a Finnish version "Tuulensuojaan" by the eclipsed Ilkka "Danny" Lipsanen. The Russian version "Толстый Карлсон" ("Fat Karlsson", after Astrid Lindgren's children book) was recorded by the Soviet pop-group "Поющие Гитары" (Singing Guitars) in 1971. The Lithuanian Theater group "Keistuoliu Teatras" (Weird Theater) recorded a version by the same name, in Lithuanian called "Geltona Upe". an israeli version "Nahar Tzahov" was recorded by Danny Sanderson & Shimi Tavori.
In Australia, Christie's version of Yellow River gained only limited airplay due to the 1970 radio ban. Local bands Jigsaw from Melbourne and Autumn from Sydney both had success with cover versions.[2]
References
- ^ "De Nederlandse Top 40, week 26, 1970". http://www.radio538.nl/web/show/id=44685/chartid=6023. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
- ^ "Yellow River - Autumn". PopArchives.com.au. http://www.poparchives.com.au/71/autumn/yellow-river. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
| Preceded by "Back Home" by England national football team |
UK number one single June 6, 1970 |
Succeeded by "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry |
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