A groundbreaking British play came to America and spawned a film adaptation and a hit song, covered by a jazz trumpeter when his career launched.
by Rich Watson
This post is for the Broadway Bound Blogathon, a blog event looking at films and stars with Broadway ties. At the end I’ll tell you where you can find more posts like this.
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass recorded “A Taste of Honey” for their 1965 album Whipped Cream and Other Delights. You’re probably familiar with the cover. The song won four Grammys, including Record of the Year.
American audiences first heard it in 1960, for a Broadway adaptation of a British play by a teenage writer.
This is a thorough and fascinating exploration of the history of a work of theater and music that evolved into a pop song. By "pop," I mean it in the best possible way. Popular and revolutionary, not "Four corporations churning out shite that all sound the same." Oh, and in case you're wondering, this was not written by AI. I'm just that damn good with vocabulary and expressing myself beyond, "Duhr. This am good."
ReplyDeleteNo worries about that!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the story about Herb Albert's famous song (and album), and for the introduction to the film...which probably raised a lot of eyebrows back in the day. I'll be humming the song all evening, which is not at all a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteLearning about the play and movie behind the song was fortuitous. I was gonna write about the song no matter what, but all that backstory was a big bonus.
ReplyDeleteI was binging a bunch of British New Wave films last year and A TASTE OF HONEY stood out as one of the most exemplary titles in that movement. The direction is beautiful and the presentation of all these characters is so compassionate and non-judgmental considering the milieu in which it was made. I enjoyed reading about the background of the film and the song! Wonderful work!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks. Turning a play like this into a movie was a daring act in itself.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! I never knew this song had such a history. Thanks for joining the blogathon, Rich--this was a great topic. :-)
ReplyDeleteI did this because I wanted to include at least one jazz song in my series on instrumental pop songs. Discovering its history as part of the HONEY play was a fortuitous bonus.
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