# They call me mellow yellow... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 2, 1999, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400 "1999-09-02T05:35:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/1 "1999-09-02T05:35:00Z")
Since GQ is down, i will have to do this here: I was watching TV today, and one of those GAP ads shows all these models singing “Mellow Yellow” (or whatever the full title is :)). Anyway, in the song they whisper something, which I can’t make out. My mom says she could never figure it out either, so the question is, what are they whispering? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/2 "1999-09-02T05:49:00Z")
Just asked my musician husband, who knows the lyrics to at least a bazillion songs. He says he’s been trying to figure that one out for thirty years. I personally think it’s “quite right, slick.” But I could be as wrong as “'scuse me, while I kiss this guy…” ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/3 "1999-09-02T06:10:00Z")
I, too, always thought it was “quite right, slick” or even “that’s right, slick.” But I had to look. The site I found with the lyrics says it’s “quite rightly.” Egad. [http://gunther.simplenet.com/v/data/mellowye.htm](http://gunther.simplenet.com/v/data/mellowye.htm) ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/4 "1999-09-02T12:59:00Z")
Personally, I’ve always wondered about this phrase… Electrical banana Is gonna be a sudden craze Electrical banana Is bound to be the very next phase What the hell is an E-Lec-Trical Banana? Mundo Bizzaro in my book… ## (course I have my guesses, but I’d rather hear your opinions/facts/WAG first-) An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; A pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/no_me_ayudes_compadre/32/5224_2.png) [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Me_Ayudes_Compadre)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/5 "1999-09-02T13:58:00Z")
A banana you light up… as in smoking banana peels. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/6 "1999-09-02T14:19:00Z")
I always thought it was a vibrator, but that’s just me * * * To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/7 "1999-09-02T16:08:00Z")
In the original Donovan version of “Mellow Yellow”, the whispered phrase is “Quite Rightly.” I assume that the new commercial is note-for-note, word-for-word. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/8 "1999-09-02T16:08:00Z")
Loco is right, “Mellow Yellow” is another name for banana peels that you smoke. Must be pretty desperate to stoop to using those… ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/9 "1999-09-02T16:10:00Z")
Oops. Aseymayo was ahead of me by about 9 hours. I must learn to read the thread more closely. Quite Rightly. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/10 "1999-09-02T16:46:00Z")
Smoking banana peels? Well, I don’t feel totally clueless, because if someone gave me 100 years, I never would have guessed that. Wow. Very bizarre… * * * An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; A pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/11 "1999-09-03T05:13:00Z")
That’s just because you are young, Zette. At the time the notion of smoking banana peels was a big media event. It’s a pretty good example of the media creating news. I doubt anyone had ever really tried it until it was in the news all the time. And obviously it doesn’t do much for you or people would still be doing it. But it made good copy. Pluto * * * “non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem” – William of Ockham ---
**Author:** ![realm505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@realm505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/realm505)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/12 "1999-09-02T18:01:00Z")
on the subject of smoking odd things, I here that people are turning to smoking toads, thats right, toads! I don’t know how you do it but that is what I hear. how high do you have to be to think of that. ---
**Author:** ![SqrlCub](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SqrlCub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SqrlCub)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/13 "1999-09-02T18:07:00Z")
Mellow Yellow is a softdrink and also what heroin junkies refer to their heroin. This is according to some junkies I knew when I was volunteering in a soup kitchen. SC ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/14 "1999-09-02T18:29:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I here that people are turning to smoking toads ## I thought they were (still ugh!) _licking_ toads. Apparently some species secrete substances to discourage predators (think of tree frog poison). And there are people deranged enough to sample any complex chemical in order to get a little variety into their sad little lives. Great. Now we have to re-define predator. “non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem” – William of Ockham ---
**Author:** ![realm505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@realm505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/realm505)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/15 "1999-09-02T18:34:00Z")
your right pluto. but some say smoking them gives an increased effect. I know because my old high school warned us about this new trend. ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/16 "1999-09-02T18:35:00Z")
The “Mellow Yellow” myth I always heard was that the Mellow Yellow Donovan is singing about is a vibrator. But as I said, it’s just a myth, and I was wrong about the lyrics anyway. Donovan certainly isn’t singing about the soft drink…the song preceded the drink by more than a decade, I think. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/17 "1999-09-02T18:52:00Z")
There was a character, Skink, in several Carl Hiaasen novels who smoked toads. Skink’s character was a former Florida governor who went a “little” bit nuts and became, well, not quite a hermit. Hiassen has written some damned funny stories about south Florida’s residents and tourists. If any of the TM’s are from Miami, you have probably seen his column in the Miami Herald. * * * **Abstainer:** _a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure._ **- Ambrose Bierce** ---
**Author:** ![Damien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@Damien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damien)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/18 "1999-09-02T19:30:00Z")
I’ve tried smoking toads, and failed. They just hop away. Toads always seem to REALLY put up a fight when I try to light 'em on fire. -Damien ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/19 "1999-09-02T19:52:00Z")
Should one light the frog’s ass and draw through the mouth, or vice versa? I would guess the former to be more palatable, but… I’ve never looked closely at a frog’s ass, but I would imagine that the opening would be much too small to allow a deep draw. Is it necessary to clip a bit off the frog’s ass before lighting? Do they sell frog ass clippers at head shops? Can one be arrested for possession of a frog ass clipper? Is it considered funny to insert small explosives into the ass of wild frogs so that, when lit, they will explode in the face of the smoker? Man, I’m not smart enought to do drugs. * * * The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400/20 "1999-09-03T03:25:00Z")
Back in the day, on the old AOL board, someone (I forget who) posted that they’d heard that if you chew a piece of gum, then put it in a banana peel and leave it for three weeks, you’ll get high if you chew it after that. Someone else posted that they’d have to BE high to chew a piece of gum that had been sitting in a banana peel for three weeks. * * * Remember, I’m pulling for you; we’re all in this together. —Red Green [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-call-me-mellow-yellow/7400.md?page=2)