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“Bless air’s gift of sweetness, honey / from the bees, inspired by clover, / marigold, eucalyptus, thyme, / the hundred perfumes of the wind. / Bless the beekeeper … bees / are the batteries of orchards, gardens, guard them.” (Extract from “Virgil’s Bees” by Carol Ann Duffy). I can’t follow that, so here are your songs about bees, in one form or another. If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3 or a link, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it, to [email protected], before next Monday. Next week’s theme will be Barriers – fences, walls, that type of thing. Over to you.
Lena Horne – Honey In the Honeycombe – severin: “When I charm, the men all swarm, just like they was bees”. Other versions of this song exist but I do like a bit of Lena.
Equals – Honey Bee – tincanman: Not an actual bee, but it’ll do. A British Invasion from Eddy ‘Electric Avenue’ Grant’s first band, this didn’t quite sell as many records as their next hit, Baby, Come Back. Almost as Earwormy though. (That’s Derv Gordon on vocals, I believe, not Eddy)
Tom Petty – Honey Bee – tfd: my fellow TP fans, some of them a bit on the innocent side, seem to think this song is about a harmless romance. To me it’s about abuse – “Don’t tell your mom, don’t tell your sister, don’t tell your boyfriend, little honey bee” sounds like grooming to me. Creepy. See what you think.
Lau – Save the Bees – AliM: From their excellent album: “Race the Loser” (2012), this is a band I would love to see live (but stupidly missed them when they played in Hebden Bridge back in July).
Laura Cantrell – Bees – Glasshalfempty: Laura sings: “I miss the bees, I miss the honey, I miss them humming by the flowered vine”, in a delicate and bittersweet lament. But it also reminds me of the ecological disaster that is the widespread collapse of bee populations in the Western world through pesticides and climate change.
Taj Mahal & Toumani Diabate – Queen Bee – tincanman: Lovely, evocative mixing of West African and American roots music from their 1999 album, Kulanjan. I think Mahal wrote it. (It is not the Queen Bee Rupert Holmes wrote for Barbra Streisand, which is too bad because while writing songs that won Tony Awards Holmes is also The Piña Colada Song guy. Neither is it the Slim Harpo blues standard King/Queen Bee).
Afro Celt Sound System – Honeybee – AliM: This one is for my friend Carraval, if she’s looking in. We went to see ACSS last week and they didn’t disappoint; this is from their excellent album: The Source.
Anthony Newley – Bee-Bom – severin: Well, “bee-bom” probably belongs in my onomatopoeia list but he does say he’ll be “buzzing around you” so I think it just fits here. Newley was a funny bloke. Novelty songs that inspired Bowie to have a go at imitation, anguished ballads from weird musicals, a bit of MOR pap now and then and the odd examples of swinging, groovy hep cat nonsense like this. Extremely enjoyable nonsense, he added hastily.
Gerry Mulligan – Blight of the Fumble Bee – Ravi Raman: originally appearing in the Two Of A Kind album with Paul Desmond. “Jokingly titled” … it is said of this nod to Rimsky-Korsakov.
The Great Kat – Flight of the Bumble Bee – Ravi Raman: Julliard trained classical violinist became a guitar shredder of note. From her Beethoven On Speed album.
Martin Simpson, Andy Cutting & Nancy Kerr – Dark Honey – Suzy: Welcome Suzy, to the fun-fest that is Earworms! Yay! (Ed).
Taj Mahal – Queen Bee – Bloody Sunday Sessions – Maggie B: This would have been OK for “Royalty” as well! (This is TM without Toumani Diabate in case anyone quibbles. Ed)
The Scientist – The Bee – severin: In the nineties, I bought the 12” single of this, with various remixes, most of which didn’t have the buzzing sound. This one does have the buzzing sound and it will drive you insane. No, it will. I’m warning you now. If you start dancing, pick up a swatter first. No, hang on, don’t. Save the bees.
Honey in the Honeycomb
Honey Bee
Honey Bee
Save The Bees
Bees
Queen Bee
Honey Bee
Bee-Bom
Blight of the Fumble Bee
Flight Of The Bumble Bee
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