Jim’s prompt for this morning is "Babe/Cutie/Doll/Honey/Sweetie." Knowing what Jim is looking for, I’m going to take a different approach (qu’el surprise!).
"A Taste Of Honey" was written by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow. The Blogger’s Best Friend™ has this to say:
It was originally an instrumental track (or recurring theme) written for the 1960 Broadway version of the 1958 British play A Taste of Honey (which was also made into the film of the same name in 1961). Both the original and a later recording by Herb Alpert in 1965 earned the song four Grammy Awards. A vocal version of the song — first recorded by Billy Dee Williams (and released in 1961 on the Prestige label), and then recorded very successfully by Lenny Welch in the summer of 1962 — was also recorded by the Beatles for their first album in 1963. Barbra Streisand performed the song as part of her cabaret act during 1962, and recorded it in January 1963 for her debut album The Barbra Streisand Album on Columbia, which won a Grammy for Album of the Year (1963).
Paul McCartney said that this was one of his showcase numbers when The Beatles were playing in Hamburg, and they (probably when prodded by George Martin) decided to include it on their 1963 album Please Please Me (which we in the US know as Introducing… The Beatles!) because at the time Acker Bilk’s instrumental was doing well on the charts.
The lyrics, from AZLyrics:
Tasting much sweeter than wine
I dream of your first kiss
And then I feel upon my lips again
A taste of honey
Tasting much sweeter than wine
I will return, yes I will return
I’ll come back for the honey and you
Yours was the kiss that awoke my heart
There lingers still, though we’re far apart
That taste of honey
Tasting much sweeter than wine
Oh I will return, yes I will return
I’ll come back (He’ll come back)
for the honey (For the honey)
and you
And that’s Song Lyric Sunday (and Song of the Day) for February 2, 2020.
All things BEATLE…be still my heart. Love the old stuff so much, too.
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This is one of their really early ones, and it sounds almost like Lenny Welch’s, which they covered. They did some fantastic covers in their early days.
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I hear Herb Alpert too but I also have the Beatles version on my iTunes – not his, LOL. Good choice for today.
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Thanks! It worked well.
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A great choice 💜
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Thank you!
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💜
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You say a “A Taste of Honey” and I hear Herb Albert in my head. Never heard the Beatles version until today. Thanks.
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You’re welcome! It was on their first album.
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I don’t know this song at all but I can tell it is a song from Broadway. It reminds me of the song they sing that comes from The Music Man..can’t recall the title
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I don’t know many songs from “The Music Man,” so I’ll take your word for it. 😉
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Nice choice John. It is different from the typical Beatles song.
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Their first album was about half covers and half original songs. The percentage of covers they did went down with each album.
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I loved this song by The Beatles!
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Glad you liked it. “Please Please Me” was one of my favorite albums.
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Never heard this sung by The Beatles. I may have been living under a rock at the time.
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Find a copy of “Please Please Me,” their first album. It’s really good!
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On the hunt!
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Try this: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLycVTiaj8OI9COuVDJdw_RdBWy11ALc4T
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Oh, wow! Thank you!
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One of my favorite Beatles tunes, but I confess that the Herb Alpert version is the one I like best.
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So do I, actually.
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