Honey (Moby song)

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:

I was hanging out at Max Fish and Mars Bar and Motor City drinking with the few remaining people in New York who would still hang out with me. At this time the Beasties had Hello Nasty, which was doing incredibly well, and I just couldn't believe that Mario Caldato, Jr. was willing to work with me.

"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. The samples consist of several lines performed by Jones, each followed by a choir 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 Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll. 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 10, 1998 in the United Kingdom, months prior to the release of the album. Several 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:

The song "Honey" was a single we put out in Europe in September, and a lot of radio stations wouldn't play it because they said it was an instrumental dance track. I listen to it and all I hear is singing. Are they talking about the same song?

Despite decreased 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 of Europe, "Honey" peaked at number 49 on the United States Billboard Dance/Electronic Singles Sales chart in conjunction with the single "Run On" and at number 56 in Australia. 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 dual single with "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" on October 16, 2000 and peaked at number 17 on the UK Singles Chart.

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 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 a compartment located behind the car's license plate. All three clones enter the car and drive to the box, which they step back into; the video concludes with the box's explosion.