The Lenny Welch - Beatles Connection

I recently noticed a newspaper article wherein singer Lenny Welch recounted being told that Paul McCartney had based the Beatles' version of A Taste of Honey on Welch's 1962 recording of the song.

Welch is best remembered for his hit Since I Fell For You, but I had never heard his version of A Taste of Honey.

A Taste of Honey served as the instrumental theme of the 1961 film and the 1960 Broadway production of the same name. The Welch version was the first to have lyrics. Along with Look Back in Anger and Room at the Top, A Taste of Honey was one of the realistic "kitchen sink" style of British films from the late '50s and early 60s. It tells the story of a working class girl from the north of England who refuses to conform to societal expectations. Tony Richardson directed both A Taste of Honey and Look Back in Anger.

Fun Fact: A photo of A Taste of Honey playwright Shelagh Delaney was used for the cover of the Smiths' Louder Than Bombs compilation and their 1987 single Girlfriend in a Coma. NOt coindidentally, the Smiths and Delaney both hail from Manchester.

Take a listen and see if you agree that the Fabs' arrangement of the song is closely based on Welch's record: