I read Camille Paglia’s latest excellent column after I woke up this morning. As always, she is a delight to read, even though we disagree on many issues. She is one of the few liberals who is actually articulate in expressing her views and who is not polluted with vindictive hatred of all things conservative.
Paglia recommended several musical selections. When I was a child in the 60s, music formed some of my earliest memories. Depending on what station my parents had the radio tuned to, I heard everything from 1940s Sinatra to the latest hits of the Beatles and Rolling Stones. It was truly a magical time in music and I pity the poor youth of today who are limited to listening to mostly bad music. The music is not bad just because I don’t like it; rather, it’s bad because it is so predictable, phony, and imitative.
One of the songs Paglia commends is the lovely “Taste of Honey,” sung by Morgana King. I remember, of course, the early Beatles cover of the song, and the wonderful cover by Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass. However, it was the Morgana King version that I remember stopping me in my tracks as a youngster. The Beatles could no wrong, and it is a tribute that they covered some very good songs. Some cover versions turned out better than others though. “A Taste of Honey” was not the Beatles at their best.
Listen to Morgana King’s dreamy, steamy version of “Taste of Honey.” As comparisons, check out the cover versions by the Beatles and the highly underrated Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass.
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