CNN: Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey"...WORST SONG OF ALL TIME.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Every day, at the end of almost every hour, XM's '60s channel plays the top six hits of a corresponding week from that decade. As an aficionado of the Billboard charts -- I've got a bunch of the Billboard Top 40 and No. 1 books at home -- I knew what was going to be No. 1 when the countdown got to mid-April 1968: "Honey," by Bobby Goldsboro. The Worst Song of All Time.

I sat transfixed in my car as it played, as if I were in the midst of an accident. The simpering melody, the tearjerking lyrics: God, how I hated it. And yet I couldn't change the station.

"See the tree, how big it's grown / But friend, it hasn't been too long, it wasn't big ..."

"Honey" wasn't just a hit -- it was No. 1 for five weeks in April-May 1968, one of the biggest songs of the year. According to a Bobby Goldsboro tribute site, songwriter Bobby Russell initially gave the song to Kingston Trio member Bob Shane; when Shane's version got off to a slow start, Russell (who also wrote "Little Green Apples" and "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia") allowed Goldsboro to release it, and the recording took off immediately.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/04/19/eye.ent.worstsong/index.html

[Beware the Beast Man]

1. "Butterfly Kisses" was another crapper.

Even if I have a daddy's girl type daughter, don't EVER let me get weepy for that drivel. :puke:

[swag]

2. That's fucked up. What about "Watching Scotty Grow"?

There he sits with a pen and a yellow pad,
What a handsome lad, that's my boy,
BRLFQ spells mom and dad,
But that ain't too bad, that's my boy.
You can have your TV and you nightclubs,
And you can have your drive in picture show,
I'll stay here with my little man near, we'll listen to the radio,
Biding my time and Watching Scotty grow.

Making a castle out of building blocks,
And a cardboard box, That's my boy,
Mickey Mouse says it's thirteen o'clock,
Well that's quite a shock! That's my boy.

In four short years I've gone from rags to riches,
And what I did before that I don't know,
So let it rain on my windowpane, I got my own rainbow,
And we're sitting here shining watching Scotty grow.

Riding on daddy's shoudlers off to bed,
Old sleepy head, that's my boy,
Got to have a drink of water and a story read,
A teddy bear named Fred, that's my boy.

What's that you say momma come on and keep you feet warm,
Well save me a place I'll be there in a minute or so,
I'll think I'll stay right here and say a little prayer before I go,
Me and God watching Scotty grow.

Me and God watching Scotty grow

[terrya]

3. It's one of the most cringe worthy songs ever written.

It redefines the word "mawkish". It's beyond sappy.

"Honey" is so emotionally manipulative, so...horribly unlistenable words just can't describe it.

"Honey" is the musical equivalent of an emotional car accident.

[RedG1]

4. While she was there and all alone / The angels came ..."

"One day while I was not at home / While she was there and all alone /
The angels came ..."

I envisioned her running off with a biker gang <eg>

[swag]

5. Suddenly I like the song so much better.

[swimboy]

6. Excellent!

:thumbsup:

[TrogL]

10. I was thinking Sodom and Gemorrah

Wouldn't you like to know an angel?

*hopes that's sufficiently vague*

[Shakespeare]

7. They are wrong. "Seasons in the Sun" gets that title. n/t

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

9. Hmmmm...maybe, maybe not.

When Goldsboro sang "And Honey I miss you, and I'm being good, and I'd love to be with you, if only I could..."

THINK about that for a minute.

If he was WITH her, he wouldn't have been able to sing that damn SONG, so yes...Seasons In The Sun could come up a notch or two.

:evilgrin:

[Sequoia]

8. I heard it as a kid and hated it.

Billy Grahm even did a sermon on it during one of his Crusades. I remember it well...ha! He ridiculed the song where Bobby said he was "being good". Billy said: get over it, (words to that effect) there are no marriages in heaven.

[Initech]

11. Heh, I would have picked Creed's "Higher"

Cannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn you take me hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigher wa na na naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa to a plaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace where... ah, you get the idea.

[6000eliot]

12. The narrator of that song is a sadistic bastard.

He's always laughing at his wife's accidents. Of course he's not around when she dies.

[likesmountains 52]

15. yeah, "she slipped and almost hurt herself...I laughed 'till I cried."

I just heard this playing at the gym today and I have to agree with CNN...worst song ever.

[ScreamingMeemie]

13. Says CNN and everyone knows they are full of shit.

eom.

[DrGonzoLives]

14. REO Speedwagon?

Granted, they have a lot of crap, but "Golden Country" is an outstanding song.

[Liberalynn]

16. Remember "Our Last Kiss?"

"Oh where, oh where can my baby be? The Lord took her away from me, she's gone to heaven so I've got to be good so I can see my baby, when I leave a (their grammer not mine) this world."

Oh by the way, why would he be asking where she was, if he believes as he says later in that same line, that she's gone to heaven? :shrug:

This one was not just an emotional car wreck of a song. It was actually a song about a car wreck.

I used to particularly hate hearing this one when I was a little kid riding in the car. I was always thinking great just what I need to listen to, a song about someone getting killed in a auto accident.

Doesn't "Johnny" or whoever die in the "Leader of the Pack" song too? I think Shelly Fabres sang that one.

I always hated these depressing pieces of manipulative morbidity.

What was it with all these morbid sappy death songs anyway?

[sleepyhead]

19. And Teen Angel!

The car is stuck on the railroad track, they get out, she runs back to get his ring from the car, and gets smashed to bits by an oncoming train! Wheee!

[Liberalynn]

21. I'd forgotten about that one.

:wow: What a cheery little tune. Just what you want for cruising music. :eyes: :rofl:

[Burma Jones]

17. Any list that ignores "Seasons in the Sun" is incomplete at best

My Mom used to love "Honey" and played the 45 repeatedly until I was hoping the Angels would come down and smash her record player......

[JeffR]

18. Peter Foldy's "Bondi Junction" - even worse than "Honey"

http://www.peterfoldy.com/

The horror, the horror...

[blondeatlast]

20. I'm sorry, CNN pollees, but nononononono.

Yes, "Honey" is awful but it didn't aspire to anything more than a pop song.

OTOH, this song aspires to so much more that it has it's own somewhat effusive Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I've_Never_Been_to_Me

[Mz Pip]

22. It beat out "Patches"?

It may not be right
but I'll join you tonight...

Teen suicide song from the 60s. Really really bad.


I still think MacArthur Park is the worst song ever. Or maybe Muskrat Love.

Mz Pip
:dem: