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Released in 1968

Honey Pie

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Last updated on January 7, 2022

Album This song officially appears on the The Beatles (Mono) LP.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1968

Timeline This song was written, or began to be written, in 1968, when Paul McCartney was 26 years old)

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Related song

Related interviews

From Wikipedia:

“Honey Pie” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, from their 1968 eponymous double album The Beatles (also known as “the White Album”). The song was written entirely by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership.

Interpretation

The song is a direct homage to the British music hall style. It concerns a famed actress, called only by the term of endearment “Honey Pie”, who becomes famous in the United States, and her old lover, who wishes for her to rejoin him in England. The premise – a humble admirer yearning for the return of his lover – is not unlike a typical music hall plot. To establish an appropriate, old-timey sound, the band added the third line, “Now she’s hit the big time!”, along with “crackles” taken from a 78 rpm record.
The song begins with a slower intro, and becomes fast after that.

Clarinet and saxophones

The song also contains a saxophone and clarinet arrangement. The clarinets, according to Alan W. Pollack, “produce water sprays in parallel thirds” and the saxophones play unmercifully in tight harmony.

Recording

Recording began on 1 October 1968, at Trident Studios in London’s Wardour Street. Only one take was recorded on the first day, although it is likely that a number of rehearsal attempts had previously been recorded and wiped. The next day, McCartney taped his lead vocals, and a lead guitar part was added. According to George Harrison, John Lennon played the guitar solo. The song’s woodwind arrangement by George Martin was recorded two days later on 4 October. McCartney added a final vocal overdub at the end of the session.

Before recording sessions for the “White Album” began, the Beatles recorded a demo of “Honey Pie” at George Harrison’s Esher home studios. This version contained slightly different lyrics and lacked the introduction of the final version. The demo was later released in 1996 on Anthology 3 and the 2018 Super Deluxe edition of the “White Album”. […]

My dad’s always played fruity old songs like that, you know. And I liked ’em. I like the melody of old songs, and the lyrics actually as well. There’s some old lyrics, like, you know– the woman singing about the man, and she’s saying something about ‘I wanna have his initial on my monogram.’ You know what I mean? There’s good lyrics and just good thoughts that you don’t sort of hear so much these days, you know. And so, I would quite like to have been a 1920’s writer, ‘cuz I like that thing, you know. Umm, you know, up in top hat and tails and sort of coming-on to ’em. So this kind of number, I like that thing. But, uhh… So this is just me doing it, pretending I’m living in 1925.

Paul McCartney – from interview with Radio Luxembourg, 1968

Paul McCartney in "Many Years From Now", by Barry Miles:

Both John and I had a great love for music hall, what the Americans call vaudeville… I very much liked that old crooner style, the strange fruity voice that they used, so Honey Pie was me writing one of them to an imaginary woman, across the ocean, on the silver screen, who was called Honey Pie. It’s another of my fantasy songs.[…]

We put a sound on my voice to make it sound like a scratchy old record. So it’s not a parody, it’s a nod to the vaudeville tradition that I was raised on.

Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now • Barry Miles

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From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

[a] mono 5 Oct 1968 at Trident.
UK: Apple PMC 7068 white album 1968.

[b] stereo 5 Oct 1968 at Trident.
UK: Apple PCS 7068 white album 1968.
US: Apple SWBO 101 white album 1968.
CD: EMI CDP 7 46443 2 white album 1987.

Mono [a] has the full lead guitar break, slightly shortened in [b].

Paul McCartney and George Harrison working on Honey Pie for the White Album, 1968. Photo by Linda McCartney
From Paul McCartney is credited for chewing celery as percussion in a Beach Boys song : beatles (reddit.com)

Lyrics

She was a working girl north of England way

Now she's hit the big time in the USA

And if she could only hear me this is what I'd say

Honey pie, you are making me crazy

I'm in love but I'm lazy

So won't you please come home?

Oh honey pie, my position is tragic

Come and show me the magic

Of your Hollywood song

You became a legend of the silver screen

And now the thought of meeting you

Makes me weak in the knee

Oh honey pie, you are driving me frantic

Sail across the Atlantic

To be where you belong

Honey pie, come back to me

I like it like that, ooh ah

I like this kinda hot kinda music, hot kinda music

Play it to me, play it to me honey with blues

Will the wind that blew her boat across the sea

Kindly send her sailing back to me?

Now honey pie, you are making me crazy

I'm in love but I'm lazy

So won't you please come home?

Come, come back to me honey pie

Honey pie, honey pie

Variations

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.

Going further

The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present

"Honey Pie" is one of the songs featured in the book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present," published in 2021. The book explores Paul McCartney's early Liverpool days, his time with the Beatles, Wings, and his solo career. It pairs the lyrics of 154 of his songs with his first-person commentary on the circumstances of their creation, the inspirations behind them, and his current thoughts on them.

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Paul McCartney writing

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