use of concat() with replace()

Sorry for the mysql question which can be regarded slightly OT but still...

Does anyone knows how to use concat() with replace() inside?

Ex., concat(replace(column1, 1,'yes'),replace(column2, 1,'no')) with many joins and constrains gives me an empty column. How should I make the columns with the values translated recognizable as columns in order to use these two functions together?
Many thanks in advance!