Honey Pie

Honey Pie is a song by Paul McCartney, written in the grand old style of the British music hall, where the audience sang together. He wrote it for The Beatles (the White Album), released in 1968. The premise is an old lover from back home who is yearning for the return of his "Honey Pie," an English actress gone off to the US. The third line, "Now she´s hit the big time," is punctuated by scratches from an old 78 rpm phonograph record to give the song an "old-time" feel. Honey Pie was recorded at Trident Studios on October 1, 1968. One take (after several rehearsals, presumably) was all that was required. Lead vocals and lead guitar were added the following day. John Lennon played the guitar solo. George Martin added an arrangement for a clarinets and saxophones. An earlier version of Honey Pie, recorded at George's home, can be heard on Anthology 3.