#13: A Taste Of Honey

Written by: Bobby Scott & Ric Marlow
Released: March 22nd, 1963
Appears on: Please Please Me
Lead vocal: Paul

Whether the Beatles were really trying to span generational boundaries or not is up for debate. They certainly had no need to - if the entire British population of teenage girls bought their records, they were pretty much set - but for some reason they felt a bizarre need to, and it just added to their uniqueness.
"A Taste Of Honey" was written by Scott & Marlow in 1960, and was recorded by Scott as an instrumental. In my research for this entry, I couldn't find any information about the lyrics, except that they are possibly references to the British play A Taste Of Honey. Scott & Marlow must have written the lyrics but chose to debut the song as an instrumental, since they are the only two writers credited. Anyway, vocal versions were subsequently recorded by numerous pop singers and the song quickly became a standard by the time the Beatles recorded it three years later. (After the Beatles, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass had a #1 hit in 1965 with an instrumental version, heard here.)
Like practically all the songs on the album, this was actually a Cavern Club standard for the boys, so it obviously wasn't George Martin's idea for them to record a song clearly targeted towards the older record buyer. Paul has a perfect voice for these types of songs and it clearly shows here. It makes it hard to realize that this is the same guy heard screaming on the first track.
This is also Paul's last song on the album. Until writing this, I hadn't paid too much attention to the fact that Paul, co-writer of more than half the album, only has a solo lead vocal on four tracks, two of which were previously recorded.