The idea of the song came to Hairston after seeing pictures of people tying yellow ribbons around trees for Vietnam War troops who had become prisoners of war. Hairston was halfway through writing the song when his friend Marvin Gaye happened to stop by his house. Gaye asked Hairston what he was working on, he said he was "messing with a song" in tribute to the Vietnam troops. With the idea of a Christmas-releated song in mind, Gaye stopped him mid-track and began to help Hairston develop it, adding melody and harmony parts.
The demo was taken to Motown Recording Studios in Los Angeles, and produced the track himself. Legend has it that "Gaye finished the recording in one take and after it was recorded on tape, returned to Hairston's apartment and slipped the tape in Hairston's recorder. When Hairston heard it, he immediately hugged Gaye complimenting his talents, to which Gaye laughed."
Initially, Motown refused to release it, possibly due to the "sensitive" nature of the Vietnam war-related song. Nonetheless, the song was issued on a Motown Christmas compilation in 1972. When released as a single, incredibly this awe-inspiring piece of music failed to make the charts.
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