A Taste Of Honey

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A Taste Of Honey is a 1961 song. The Beatles covered it live from 1962 to 1963 and it appeared on their debut album, Please Please Me.

Contents

[edit] Original Version

A Taste Of Honey, one of Paul McCartney's favorite songs at the time, was first recorded as the theme tune for the 1961 film version of Shelagh Delaney's play of the same name, starring Rita Tushingham.

[edit] The Beatles' Version

[edit] Live Performances

The song would be recorded by a number of artists, mostly in instrumental versions. The Beatles' arrangement was adapted from the first vocal version, released by Lenny Welch on September 17, 1962. Welch's version, however, did contain some minor lyrical differences. For example, Welch's version went: "A taste of honey/A taste much sweeter than wine," whereas The Beatles' version went: "A taste of honey/Tasting much sweeter than wine." A Taste Of Honey was an important part of The Beatles' live act in 1962 and 1963. Paul McCartney recalled, "A Taste Of Honey was one of my big numbers in Hamburg - a bit of a ballad. It was different, but it used to get requested a lot. We sang close harmonies on the little echo mikes, and we made a fairly good job of it. It used to sound pretty good, actually."

[edit] Recording

The recorded version included on the album Please Please Me was recorded on February 11, 1963, the day that ten of the fourteen tracks on the album were recorded. A Taste Of Honey was the first song recorded in the afternoon session, taking place between 2:30 and 6:00 PM. The basic track was recorded in five takes. After Do You Want To Know A Secret was recorded, Paul added his double-tracked vocals onto the basic track of A Taste Of Honey, the only song on the album to have double-tracked vocals. This overdub took the number of takes up to seven. Stereo and mono mixes were made on February 25, without The Beatles present.

[edit] BBC Radio

The Beatles recorded A Taste Of Honey seven times for BBC radio, the first of which predated the album recording. These are:


The version from July 10, 1963 was recorded at Aeolian Hall in London and included on the 1994 compilation Live at the BBC.

[edit] Recording Sessions

[edit] Release

In the UK, A Taste Of Honey was included on the LP Please Please Me, whereas it would first released in the US on the LPs Introducing... The Beatles and The Early Beatles. It was also included on the UK EP Twist And Shout, released June 12, 1963.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] The Beatles

[edit] Production

[edit] Available Versions

[edit] Known Unavailable Versions

[edit] Available On

[edit] Source

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