Posted on 03/11/2015 12:45:07 PM PDT by lee martell
If you are old enough to have been listening to the radio during the late 1960's, you would have heard Bobby Goldsboro's biggest hit, 'Honey'. In fact, you would have heard it over and over again without even trying to. Honey was quite popular for a few months and still seems poignant today because of the many ways to hear it. 'Honey' aka "Honey, I miss you", is a song written by Bobby Russell. He first produced it with former Kingston Trio member Bob Shane. Russell later offered it to Bobby Goldsboro who recorded it for his 1968 album.
The song's narrator mourns his dead lover, beginning with him looking at a tree in their garden, remembering how 'it was just a twig' on the day she planted it (with his disapproval). This single about the loss of a loved one hit No.1 the week after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis.
Early in the year of 1968, Bob Shane recorded and released his version of this song, but it did not climb the charts or make any lasting impression. At that point, Bobby Russell gave it to Goldsboro, who was the first one to produce it accompanied by a full orchestra. Bobby Russell wrote other hits of that day, such as O.C. Smith's "Little Green Apples", and Vicki Lawrences's "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia". Bobby Russell and Vicki Lawrence (of Carol Burnnete Show) were married from 1972 to 74. Russell dies if a heart attack in 1992 at the age of 52. This song frequently appears on 'worst song' list due to its' sentimental and melancholy subject matter. This song is also loved by many for the very same reasons because many listeners identify with being 'the spouse left behind'.
This ain’t the worst syrup song.
I have it on my phone.
I personally never tied it to MLK death. “Honey” was a sad song, though.
There was a country song about “just one more day” or along that line, which skyrocketed right after 9-11, IIRC.
I wanna spew chunks just thinking about it!
Another big Bobby Goldsboro hit around that same era was “Watching Scotty Grow”.
I hated that song as much as I hated “McArthur Park” (”..somebody left the cake out in the rain, it took so long to bake it, and I’ll never have that recipe again...”) I still can’t get that crappy music out of my head 47 years later. There were a lot of bad events in 1968, and honey, I don’t miss you!
“But there’s a six lane highway down by the creek
Where I went skinny dippin’ as a child
And the drive in show where the meadow used to grow
And the strawberries used to grow wild.”
Don’t it make you want to go home...
Joe South.
” Where, Oh Where could my baby be? “
“Patches”
BARFMAO !!
The only thing that made that song truly putrid...other than the lyrics...was Richard Harris 'singing' it. It's like listening to William Shatner 'singing' "Rocketman".
And, if you know what you are doing, you can download anything from YouTube. An amazing resource.
What song are those lyrics from; Moonlight Feels Right by the group Starbuck? I remember it from someplace. I have heard of a Joe South from that era, but know nothing about him.
The late 1950s/early 1960s were famous for “splatter platters”: records about tragically lost loves, usually in car crashes.
Thanks for posting it.
“Dont it make want to go home now”
Joe South
Remember Terry Jacks’ “Seasons in the Sun”? Another song about someone dying.
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