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.
And, if you know what you are doing, you can download anything from YouTube. An amazing resource.
The late 1950s/early 1960s were famous for “splatter platters”: records about tragically lost loves, usually in car crashes.
Remember Terry Jacks’ “Seasons in the Sun”? Another song about someone dying.
It made this list:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Barry%27s_Book_of_Bad_Songs
I remember I was maybe 8 and there was a Kodak commercial which used the song ‘Sunrise Sunset’ from ‘Fiddle on the Roof’ on the TV my dad turned to my mom nodded me and said that reminds me of him. I didn’t understand it then, but better than 50 years and 4 children and 7 grandchildren later bitter-sweetly I do.
But just over two years ago I lost the love of my life to cancer (I had met her three years earlier). We met online and hit it off instantly in our chats and email exchanges.
Then, just before our first face-to-face meeting, she told me that she had recently undergone surgery after having been diagnosed with breast cancer a few months earlier, and that she was only halfway through her course of chemo treatments.
She said that she would understand if I wanted to back out of meeting her.
Something told me that if I didn't meet her, it would be the biggest mistake of my life. So I met her and fell hopelessly in love in a very short time.
She was my true soul mate -- temperamentally and intellectually. Our physical chemistry was amazing. But best of all we shared a deep love and technical understanding of music. She was an internationally renowned classical musician with a long list of recordings and professional accomplishments, as well as being head of the music department at a well known local university.
I am a jazz guitar player with a cum laude degree from Berklee College of Music. Our musical connection was like nothing I have ever experienced with anybody.
We had thought she was cured of her illness, but after 18 months together, the cancer metastasized. She began exhibiting various debilitating symptoms and underwent more surgery and a new round of brain radiation and oral chemo. I took care of her at my place for the next none months before she finally went into the hospital, and then the hospice where she died five weeks later.
I admit that I think of that sentimental Bobby Goldsboro song sometimes. Just the other day, in fact. And it still makes me sad.
But not as sad as this one.
Thanks for listening.
Bobby Goldsboro’s parents lived about a half a block from me. Both passed away fairly recently. As I drove up the street and stopped at the intersection where their home was, the local radio station was playing “Honey”. It was so poignant since Mrs. Goldsboro has passed away that same day.
Their home is still up for sale now.
At that point, Bobby Russell gave it to Goldsboro, who was the first one to produce it accompanied by a full orchestra.
...
As usual, the production made the difference. And the full sound was popular then.
She wrecked the car and she was sad,
so afraid that I'd be mad,
But what the heck ...
“For a little While”
Gator
Seasons in the Sun ping (and assorted other terrors)