When the Beatles recorded their debut album Please Please Me in a marathon one-day session on February 11, 1963, they included a surprising choice among the raw rock energy of “Twist and Shout” and “I Saw Her Standing There”: a gentle, sentimental ballad called “A Taste of Honey.” For a band building its reputation on electrifying performances and youthful rebellion, this delicate show tune seemed oddly out of place—yet it revealed something essential about Paul McCartney’s musical instincts and the Beatles’ desire to demonstrate their versatility as they fought to establish themselves.
The song’s origin story begins far from Liverpool’s Cavern Club. “A Taste of Honey” was written by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow as an instrumental theme for the 1960 Broadway production of Shelagh Delaney’s 1958 British play of the same name, which was adapted into a film in 1961 starring Rita Tushingham. The original instrumental won the Grammy for Best Instrumental Theme in 1963, and the haunting melody quickly attracted attention from artists across multiple genres. 🎭
The first vocal version came from an unexpected source: Billy Dee Williams (yes, the future Lando Calrissian) recorded it in 1961 for his album Let’s Misbehave, having appeared in a Broadway production of A Taste of Honey. But the version that caught Paul McCartney’s ear was recorded by American pop singer Lenny Welch in September 1962. Welch’s vocal arrangement transformed the instrumental into a tender romantic ballad, and McCartney—always drawn to sentimental, melodic material—was captivated.
This was pure Paul. According to Mark Lewisohn’s exhaustive research, John Lennon resisted the song vehemently, arguing it was too soft and not the sort of material the Beatles should showcase. The disagreement became a sustained point of contention between them. When confronted with John’s opposition, Paul defended “A Taste of Honey” as simply another entry in the vein of show tunes like “Till There Was You,” “Over the Rainbow,” and “Wooden Heart”—all of which proved popular with audiences. McCartney even introduced it on a BBC session as “a lovely tune, great favorite of me Auntie Gin’s,” signaling his affection for its wholesomeness and old-fashioned sentimentality. 💚
The song’s appeal to McCartney fits a clear pattern in his musical preferences. Throughout his career, Paul demonstrated a penchant for theatrical material, Broadway-style melodies, and songs that his mother’s generation might have enjoyed. Where John gravitated toward raw rock and roll and edgy material, Paul appreciated sophisticated chord progressions, lush arrangements, and emotional directness. “A Taste of Honey” sits comfortably alongside “Besame Mucho” and “Till There Was You” as evidence of McCartney’s broader musical palette—one that would later produce everything from “Yesterday” to “When I’m Sixty-Four.” Just the sort of tunes that Lennon called “granny music.”
A Different Kind of Song
The Beatles performed “A Taste of Honey” live during 1962, making it one of their Hamburg nightclub standards. Paul recalled it as “one of my big numbers in Hamburg—a bit of a ballad. It was different, but it used to get requested a lot.” The song worked particularly well in their acoustic-leaning performances, where they would sing close harmonies on the little echo mikes and create an intimate atmosphere that contrasted with their more raucous rock numbers. By the time they recorded it for Please Please Me, they’d thoroughly road-tested the arrangement. 🎸
This essay continues below. Click on the title of this product to view on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
A Taste Of Honey: Live At The Star Club, Hamburg 1962
When the Beatles entered EMI Studios on February 11, 1963, “A Taste of Honey” was the first song recorded during the afternoon session. They completed five takes between 2:30 and 6:00 PM, and then—following the recording of “Do You Want to Know a Secret”—Paul returned to double-track his lead vocals. This was the only instance of double-tracking on the entire Please Please Me album, suggesting George Martin and the Beatles recognized something special in the vocal performance that deserved extra attention. The middle eight section, in particular, benefited from the doubled voice, adding depth and emotion to McCartney’s delivery. So Paul sang lead, with John and George providing harmony backing vocals.
The Beatles made subtle but important changes to Lenny Welch’s arrangement. Most notably, they altered the chorus lyrics—Welch sang “A taste of honey/A taste much sweeter than wine,” while the Beatles dropped “much” to tighten the phrasing. They also employed a vocal technique that appeared throughout their early recordings: changing the “s” sound to “sh,” so “sweeter” became “shweeter.” This wasn’t just an affectation—it made them sound more like their American idols while also solving a technical problem called “de-essing,” where excessive treble could cause distortion on vinyl. Engineer Norman Smith noted this same trick on songs like “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (”When I shay that shomething”).
The song’s inclusion on Please Please Me served a strategic purpose. While its sentimental tone sat uneasily with the raw energy of tracks like “Twist and Shout,” it demonstrated the Beatles’ versatility at a time when they were still trying to prove they were more than just another rock and roll act. Manager Brian Epstein was positioning them as all-around entertainers who could appeal to multiple generations, and he believed a tasteful ballad would help broaden their appeal beyond teenage fans.
The timing was also fortuitous. Acker Bilk’s instrumental version had reached #16 on the UK Singles Chart in January 1963—just a month before the Beatles recorded their version—making the song current and recognizable to British audiences. This meant the Beatles weren’t introducing an obscure American album track but rather putting their stamp on a melody that UK listeners already knew, much like they did with other covers on the album.
In addition to performing the song before live audiences, the Beatles performed it seven times for BBC radio shows including “Here We Go,” “Side by Side,” and “Easy Beat,” with one BBC performance actually predating the EMI studio version. A version from their Hamburg period was later released on the 1977 album Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962, capturing the song in its natural nightclub habitat where Paul would croon it to appreciative crowds. 🎤
The song’s influence on McCartney extended beyond the Beatles’ early years. In 1967, he wrote “Your Mother Should Know” based on a line from the A Taste of Honey screenplay, demonstrating how the material continued to resonate with him years after the Beatles had stopped performing it live.
Notable Covers From a Broad Range of Performers
The cover history of “A Taste of Honey” reads like a who’s-who of 1960s music. Beyond the Beatles, the song attracted an astonishing array of talent. Barbra Streisand recorded it in January 1963 for her debut album The Barbra Streisand Album, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year. Tony Bennett reached #94 in the US with his version in 1964, recording it with the Ralph Sharon Trio. Jazz vocalist Morgana King released a version that became her signature song. The Temptations delivered a standout R&B cover.
But the version that eclipsed all others came from Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass in 1965. Alpert’s instrumental arrangement appeared on the iconic album Whipped Cream & Other Delights (famous for its provocative cover featuring model Dolores Erickson apparently nude and nestled in whipped cream). The engineer, Larry Levine, had suggested the song to Alpert when told the album would be food-themed, and it proved to be inspired advice.
Alpert’s “A Taste of Honey” achieved what no other version had: massive commercial success combined with critical acclaim. The single spent five weeks at #1 on the Easy Listening chart, reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, and hit #4 in Canada. At the 1966 Grammy Awards, it won an unprecedented four awards: Record of the Year, Best Instrumental Arrangement, Best Instrumental Performance (Non-Jazz), and Best Engineered Recording (Non-Classical). The album Whipped Cream & Other Delights itself spent eight weeks at #1 on the Billboard album charts, with Alpert joining Elvis, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones as the only artists to have #1 albums in 1965. 🏆
The distinctive sound of Alpert’s version came partly by accident. His recording featured eight drum beats (played by legendary session drummer Hal Blaine) at the beginning that were supposed to be an editing cue and removed from the final version. But Alpert liked how the exposed kick drum sounded and kept it in, giving the track one of its most memorable hooks. It’s that stuttering drum intro that generations of listeners have instantly recognized.
The song’s cultural impact extended even further. In 1978, a disco group named themselves A Taste of Honey after the song, and their debut single “Boogie Oogie Oogie” spent three weeks at #1, sold two million copies, and won them the Grammy for Best New Artist. The song has been recorded by approximately 200 artists internationally, making it one of the most covered compositions of the 1960s.
For the Beatles, “A Taste of Honey” represented a moment when they could indulge Paul’s love of sophisticated pop standards even as John pushed for harder-edged material. It’s a reminder that the Beatles’ early repertoire was far more eclectic than their reputation as rock revolutionaries suggests. They were, in fact, a band that could deliver scorching rock and roll one moment and a tender show tune the next—and that versatility would eventually allow them to experiment with everything from baroque pop to Indian music to avant-garde sound collages.
The song may not be celebrated like “Twist and Shout” or “Please Please Me,” but “A Taste of Honey” deserves recognition for what it reveals: that Paul McCartney’s instinct for melody and emotion—even when it meant fighting with John Lennon—was already shaping the Beatles’ sound. And while Herb Alpert’s version would become the definitive recording, the Beatles’ tender interpretation captured something special: a moment when four young men from Liverpool were still figuring out who they were, willing to try anything, and eager to prove they could master any style they decided to tackle.
