Honey

Album

Honey

Label

United Artists Records

Genre

Country

Composer(s)

Bobby Russell

Entered Chart

Mar 23, 1968

Peak Date

Apr 13, 1968

Released

February 17, 1968

Recorded

January 30, 1968 Studio RCA Studio B, Nashville

Catalog #

United Artists 50283

B-Side

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_(Bobby_Goldsboro_song)#:~:text=%22-,Danny%22,-Released

This song was written by Bobby Russell, who got the idea for the song when he noticed how much a tree in his front yard had grown in four years. Russell was a Nashville songwriter who was briefly married to actress/singer Vicki Lawrence, and wrote her 1973 hit "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia." He also wrote "Little Green Apples" for O.C. Smith (#2, 1968), and "The Joker Went Wild" for Brian Hyland (#20, 1966). Russell, who died of a heart attack in 1992 at age 51, was a singer, but his most successful songs were recorded by other artists. He had minor hits with the songs "1432 Franklin Pike Circle Hero" (#36, 1968) and the novelty song "Saturday Morning Confusion" (#28, 1971). In this song, a woman who plants a tree, but then she dies a few years later. The story is told from the husband's perspective, who misses her terribly and is reminded of her when he sees the tree. The song has made various "worst song ever" lists as its detractors find it overly sentimental and cloying, but there are many defenders of the song as well, who find it heartfelt and moving. Here's a CNN Article quoting a comment on this very page from one of the songs' supporters. This was originally recorded by Bob Shane of The Kingston Trio, whose version was released about a week before Goldsboro's. Goldsboro was a more established artist, with six Top 40 US hits to his credit when he released this song. His version, with the much more elaborate production, became the hit. In 1968, Goldsboro told NME: "I think 'Honey' is a very emotional song, but it's not like what I call a sick song, a death song. Actually what it is, very simply, is just a guy remembering little things that happened while his wife was alive and to me that's not sick at all." For Goldsboro, this was by far his biggest hit, staying at #1 in the US for five weeks. He had his own TV variety show from 1972-1975. Goldsboro recorded this in Nashville, Tennessee in RCA Studio B, which was known as "home of a thousand hits" and was later turned into a museum. The musicians who played on "Honey" were session pros who moved to Nashville after working at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. This included Norbert Putnam on bass, Jerry Carrigan on drums, and David Briggs on keyboards. "Honey" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 1969 Grammy Awards but lost to another Bobby Russell composition: "Little Green Apples."

See the tree, how big it's grown
But friend it hasn't been too long
It wasn't big
I laughed at her and she got mad
The first day that she planted it
Was just a twig
Then the first snow came and she ran out
To brush the snow away
So it wouldn't die
Came runnin' in all excited
Slipped and almost hurt herself
And I laughed till I cried

She was always young at heart
Kinda dumb and kinda smart
And I loved her so
And I surprised her with a puppy
Kept me up all Christmas Eve two years ago
And it would sure embarrass her
When I came in from workin' late
'Cause I would know
That she'd been sittin' there and cryin'
Over some sad and silly late, late show

And honey, I miss you and I'm bein' good
And I'd love to be with you if only I could

She wrecked the car and she was sad
And so afraid that I'd be mad
But what the heck
Though I pretended hard to be
Guess you could say she saw through me
And hugged my neck
I came home unexpectedly
And caught her cryin' needlessly
In the middle of a day
And it was in the early spring
When flowers bloom and robins sing
She went away

And honey, I miss you and I'm bein' good
And I'd love to be with you if only I could

One day while I was not at home
While she was there and all alone
The angels came
Now all I have is memories of honey
And I wake up nights and call her name
Now my life's an empty stage
Where honey lived and honey played
And love grew up
And a small cloud passes overhead
And cries down on the flower bed
That honey loved

And see the tree how big it's grown
But friend it hasn't been too long
It wasn't big
And I laughed at her and she got mad
The first day that she planted it
Was just a twig