Honey (Moby song)


"Honey" is a song by American electronica musician Moby. It was released as the lead single from his fifth studio album Play on August 24, 1998, nine months prior to the album's release. The song incorporates vocal samples from "Sometimes" by American blues singer Bessie Jones, while its instrumentation is built around a repeating piano riff sampled from the song "Woman to Woman" by Joe Cocker. Moby discovered the "Sometimes" sample while listening to albums of folk music recordings compiled by field collector Alan Lomax. He subsequently composed "Honey", along with several other songs from Play, using the Lomax recordings.
"Honey" was generally well received by music critics, many of whom cited it as a highlight of Play in reviews of the album. Upon release, it peaked at number 33 on the UK Singles Chart and also charted in several other countries, including Austria and Germany. The song's music video, directed by Roman Coppola, depicts three duplicates of Moby venturing through various locations. "Honey" was later remixed to feature vocals from American R&B singer Kelis.

Background and composition

Moby composed "Honey" for his fifth studio album Play after listening to a box set of folk music songs compiled by field collector Alan Lomax. He developed an interest in the a cappella songs recorded by Lomax and subsequently wrote "Honey" in "about 10 minutes." Lomax recordings were also used as the basis for several other songs from Play, including "Find My Baby" and "Natural Blues". After producing "Honey", Moby commissioned Brazilian record producer Mario Caldato Jr. to carry out its mixing process; he had heard of Caldato from his work on American hip hop group Beastie Boys' 1998 album Hello Nasty, and later recounted:
"Honey" features a piano-driven beat and additional instrumentation performed by Moby himself, including original slide guitar parts. The song is built around samples of American blues singer Bessie Jones' 1960 song "Sometimes", from the Alan Lomax compilation Sounds of the South. Jones and Lomax receive co-writing credits on "Honey". The samples consist of several lines performed by Jones, each followed by a group of voices responding "sometime" – the lines are repeated, harmonized and orchestrated in different ways throughout the course of the song. Moby has said that the vocals are meant to "convey female sex." Other musical elements incorporated in "Honey" include hand claps, vinyl record scratches and synthesized strings. John Bush of AllMusic notes the song's mixture of sampled blues music with "breakbeat techno."

Critical reception

"Honey" received generally positive reviews from music critics. Frank Owen of The Village Voice called the song a "mesmerizing floor-filler, arousing memories of Hamilton Bohannon's hypnotic '70s metronome funk." Alexandra Marshall of MTV wrote that its samples of "Sometimes" "work both as ingredients in a sonic collage and stay totally recognizable at the same time". A writer for The Guardian praised "Honey" as "joyous, hypnotic, romping blues", while reviews from NME described the song as a "sparkling diamond" and a "natural born dancefloor groove". In his book I Hear America Singing: An Introduction to Popular Music, author David Kastin notes that "Honey" was often singled out in reviews of Play for special praise. Jim Sullivan of The Boston Globe cited "Honey" as a highlight song from Play, while Gene Stout of Seattle Post-Intelligencer called it "one of the album's most riveting tracks." The song ranked at number twenty-four on The Village Voices annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll for singles. On their year-end list, Spin named "Honey" the tenth best single of 1999.

Release

"Honey" was released as the lead single from Play on August 24, 1998 in Europe, months prior to the release of the album. Different remixes of the song were produced by various artists, including Rollo Armstrong, Sister Bliss, WestBam, Sharam Jey, Mickey Finn and Moby himself. Instead of selecting remixes for inclusion on issues of the "Honey" physical single, Moby and his label Mute Records ultimately opted to release all of them commercially. "Honey" was released in several other European countries the following month; several radio stations refused to play the song, however, with Moby later saying:
Despite minimal European radio support, "Honey" managed to chart in several countries within the continent. The song debuted and peaked at number 33 on the UK Singles Chart for the issue dated September 5, 1998. It achieved its highest chart placement in Austria, where it peaked at number 30, and also charted in Germany and the Netherlands. Outside Europe, "Honey" charted at number 95 in Australia, as well as at number 49 on the United States Billboard Dance/Electronic Singles Sales chart as a double A-side release with "Run On". Moby later collaborated with American R&B singer Kelis for a remix of "Honey" on which she provided additional vocals. Additional production and remixing was provided by Fafu. The remix was released as a double A-side single with "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" on October 16, 2000 and peaked at number 17 on the UK Singles Chart. It was also issued as a double A-side single with "Porcelain" in Australia, where it peaked at number 56.
The song is featured in the 2003 film Holes, as well as its soundtrack.

Music video

The music video for "Honey" was directed by Roman Coppola. It opens with a wooden box falling from the sky – upon hitting the ground, three clones of Moby dressed in suits emerge and make their way towards a city. One spots a luxury car and walks toward it, but accidentally drops a map in his possession. Crawling underneath the car to retrieve it, the Moby clone soon finds himself in a bathing woman's apartment room – he manages to obtain the map and exit the room before the woman discovers his presence. He enters another room, followed by his duplicates, and jumps out the window.
The other two clones are then seen in a forest – one walks behind a tree and reappears dressed in casual attire. He climbs another tree and ends up in the bathroom of the woman's apartment, where he retrieves a package. The clone then crawls underneath her bed and finds himself underneath a car; he opens the package and finds a gasoline can, which he pours into the fuel filler. All three clones enter the car and drive to the box, which they step back into; the video concludes with the box's explosion.

Track listing

Original version

  1. "Honey" – 3:18
  2. "Micronesia" – 4:18
  3. "Memory Gospel" – 6:42
  1. "Honey" – 4:02
  2. "Honey" – 3:16
  3. "Honey" – 6:19
  4. "Honey" – 6:24
  1. "Honey" – 7:06
  2. "Honey" – 6:41
  3. "Honey" – 5:52
  1. "Honey" – 3:27
  2. "Honey" – 4:49
  3. "Honey" – 6:41
  4. "Honey" – 6:24
  5. "Run On" – 4:27
  6. "Run On" – 6:05
  7. "Run On" – 6:01
  8. "Memory Gospel" – 6:42

    Remix

  1. "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" – 3:45
  2. "Honey" – 3:13
  3. "Flower" – 3:25
  1. "Honey" – 6:19
  2. "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" – 5:59
  3. "The Sun Never Stops Setting" – 4:19

    Charts

Original version

Remix