Yellow Balloon

"Yellow Balloon" was a song by the Yellow Balloon, included on the group's 1967 self-titled album. It was classified as being in the sunshine pop genre.

In late 1966, when Dean Torrence of Jan & Dean needed some songs for a new album, he enlisted the help of Gary Zekley, a talented Los Angeles singer/songwriter/producer Torrence had worked with previously. One of the songs Zekley gave Torrence was called "Yellow Balloon" and Torrence went on to record it. In the Torrence version, The last two lines in the bridge section of the song did not exist until after the recording was done. Those two lines from the bridge section were used in the Yellow Balloon's version of the song. The added lyrics are: "I know the sky's gonna get lighter/The sun's gonna shine a little brighter". The song is noted for its key change from F to G. The song is also noted for its change of time signature from 4/4 to 6/8 in the wordless verse with the "BA BAs", until it reverts to the 4/4 rhythm for the final repeated chorus, before the fade-out of the song.

Zekley was proud of the song, but was unenthused about Torrence's recording, so Zekley shopped the song to different labels. Among those whom Zekley visited was Ken Handler of Canterbury Records, who was very excited about the song and immediately set about having it recorded. Handler brought in noteworthy studio vocalists and musicians to add circular keyboard lines and a slight tremolo effect on the guitar. Mike Post played 12-string guitar.^[3][4]

The single was released under the group name the Yellow Balloon, in direct competition with Torrence's version of the song. Fearing both failure and a lawsuit, Zekley produced the single under the pseudonym Yodar Critch.^[5] Meanwhile, Torrence's single was released under the duo's name Jan & Dean, even though Jan Berry was not on the recording, having been in a recent near-fatal car accident. The week of May 20, 1967, the Yellow Balloon's version placed at #25^[6] on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, while Jan & Dean's version placed at #111.^[7] This was due largely to the fact that many disc jockeys around the United States played only the Yellow Balloon version of the song. The B-side was the song played backwards, titled "Noollab Wolley".

ومع ذلك، قامت العديد من محطات الراديو بحظر الأغنية خوفًا من أن تكون الأغنية عن حبوب مهلوسة صفراء لرحلة مخدرة، تمامًا مثل أغنية دونوفان " Mellow Yellow ".

حققت الأغنية المنفردة اهتمامًا جماهيريًا كافيًا للفرقة لإصدار ألبوم وتقديم عروض في حفلات موسيقية مختلفة. لكن المشكلة كانت تكمن في عدم وجود فرقة "يلو بالون" فعلية. وسرعان ما استعان هاندلر بالفنان دون غرادي ، وهو فنان تسجيلات من كانتربري، وعضو سابق في نادي ميكي ماوس ، اشتهر آنذاك بشخصية روبي دوغلاس في المسلسل التلفزيوني " أبنائي الثلاثة ". كان غرادي يعرف العديد من الموسيقيين الآخرين، فاستعان بأليكس فالديز ( غناء رئيسي )، وبول كانيلا ( غيتار رئيسي )، ودون براوخت ​​( غيتار باس )، وآلان دي بوير ( طبول )، وفورست "فروستي" غرين ( كيبورد ) لتسجيل الألبوم الذي يحمل اسم الفرقة. أنتج زيكلي الألبوم وشارك في كتابة ثمانية من أصل أحد عشر مقطعًا. ^{[ 8 ]}

لطالما اعتُبر ألبوم "البالون الأصفر" من كلاسيكيات موسيقى البوب ​​المبهجة ، على الرغم من أن أغنية "البالون الأصفر" هي الأغنية الوحيدة التي دخلت قوائم الأغاني الأكثر استماعاً. ^{[ 9 ]}

• قائمة أعمال ألبوم "البالون الأصفر" لمجلة بيلبورد