I take it that Honey was suffering from depression, since the singer would come home and find her crying for no reason at all. However, another poster thought Honey might have had cancer, which could also have resulted in crying when alone and an early death.
In any case, several years ago, I had just moved into a new house and I was busy cleaning it while waiting for my husband and son to fix up our old house on the other side of the country and sell it. I was playing XM radio while I scrubbed. That song Honey came on, and, between the content of the song and the distance from hubby and son, I nearly collapsed on the floor in an inconsolable heap. I’ve never felt that sad before when I haven’t just had someone close to me die.
Possible it meant that I reckon. First wife didn’t have depression but could cry sometimes for no reason or had been crying while I was gone. My second wife was treated for clinical depression for years and PTSD. She died of COPD complications and could go into a depression where she cried sometime. Second time I was home when the angels came.
I always took the following verse to mean that “She found out about her diagnoses since this verse describes a “singular” event and not a plural one. I take “She went away” to be another reference to her death that is described in a bit more detail in the next verse which I posted already.
“I came home unexpectedly
And caught her cryin’ needlessly in the middle of the day
And it was in the early spring
When flowers bloom and robins sing she went away”
The Tree referred to in the song is a brilliant reference to a reminder of a lifetime that once was and a part that lives on. A visible sign in nature that Honey was once among us.
But a good song will always have different meanings to different people. If people can relate to it with there own life experiences then it will be a more successful song.
Such as Don McClain’s “American pie”.