“A Taste of Honey” is a pop standard written by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow. It was first performed by Scott, and its title may have been inspired by the 1958 English play A Taste of Honey which reached Broadway in 1960.

It was covered by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass on their album Whipped Cream & Other Delights, becoming a top ten hit in 1965 and winning the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. While this is the best remembered instrumental version, two others had competed in the charts in 1962: both Martin Denny and The Victor Feldman Quartet had minor hits with their takes on the song. The only vocal version to chart was the 1964 minor hit for Tony Bennett. The newest version recorded as a single release was by Howard Bailey. Sticking close to the Herb Alpert version, Bailey played all the main brass melodies on the guitar.

Beatles’ version

It was covered by The Beatles on their debut album Please Please Me. It was a favourite of Paul McCartney’s, and was included in the Beatles’ repertoire in 1962. John Lennon sometimes played around with the title, calling it “A Waste of Money”. (Satirist Allan Sherman actually recorded a parody song called “A Waste of Money”) The Beatles performed “A Taste of Honey” on many BBC radio shows, including Here We Go, Side by Side and Easy Beat.

Credits

• John Lennon – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Paul McCartney – bass, double-tracked lead vocals
• George Harrison – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Ringo Starr – drums

Movie

Shelagh Dalaney’s script A Taste of Honey was filmed in 1961 by Tony Richardson and starred Liverpool actress Rita Tushingham. As part of the pioneering wave of “gritty” northern British working-class cinema of the period, the genre seemed to fit in with the Beatles’ outspoken image, as well as also reflecting the social changes in attitude that were then taking place in the UK.

References

• No Quarters: Bad taste..but funny xxx The Taste Of Chaos xxx. More Pictures, 22 years old Male 3 min 56 sec