A Taste of Honey

The one undeniable fact about The Beatles is they had a love of music. Not just rock & roll, but all varieties of music. Paul in particular had a fondness for ballads (it shows in the songs that he is the primary composer), even those from his father's time. As Paul relates, The Beatles were not ashamed of these and would include ballads into their stage act so they have a variety of songs and a touch of class or sophistication.

A Taste of Honey is one such song, which vocal version was first recorded by Lenny Welch in 1962. It was originally an instrumental track written for a Broadway play with the same name in 1960. A cover was also done by Herb Alpert in 1965. Both the original and cover in 1965 earned the song Grammy Awards in 63' and 65'. The vocal version only became popular after The Beatles covered the song.

An interesting fact about this song is that Paul's voice is double tracked during the bridge. This will be the first of many songs in which The Beatles used this technique in their songs. Paul's vocal was perfect for this song and conveys the meaning of the song in the most convincing way he could muster. If you turn up the bass while playing this song, you could clearly hear Paul's tasteful bass playing, especially during the bridges.

Love it or loathe it, you must admit that The Beatles successfully took a classic piece of ballad and transformed it into a song of their own, sang in their own style. I never did like this song when I first heard it, but the tune and the opening line that only a Paul McCartney voice can deliver ..."A taste of honey... tasting much sweeter than wine...do do do dooo", keeps on playing in my mind. Hope it sticks to your mind as it did to mine.

Do You Want to Know a Secret

John and his mum, Julia

Written by John Lennon, the inspiration for this song came from a deeply rooted childhood memory of John. Julia, John's mum, used to sing I'm Wishing from Snow White and The Seven Dwarves to him when he was a young boy. The lines "Wanna know a secret? Promise not to tell?" was sung by Snow White to the doves while standing at the castle well. John later said that he had this sort of thing in his head, and together with Paul, they worked out a complete arrangement.

George Harrison

George Harrison is the lead vocal in this song despite the song being written by John Lennon. In 1980, Lennon said that he gave this song to George because it only had three notes and George was not the best singer in the world. George himself confirms this sentiment, saying that he did not like his vocal work on the song because he did not know how to sing yet. John did say in his 1980 interview that George has improved a lot since then.

In the Studio

An interesting fact about this song is that it was not considered a favourite among the band members. It had a short performance life as a Beatles song. Even though the song became a major US hit , The Beatles never saw fit to perform the song in the states. Even Paul who co-wrote this song with John, considered it to be  a hack song written to order as a filler for the first album.


Regardless of what The Beatles think of this song (no disrespect intended), to me this song is one that I will always hum to. I remember singing this song throughout my teenage years, dedicating it to my then puppy love. It stands on par with Can't Buy Me Love and  Love Me Do as The Beatles ultimate love songs. Enjoy the song below.