The music and lyrics for "Honey Bee" came together pretty much in one single burst. In a way, it was just one of those "Oh, that's how it must go" tunes. But "producing" the tune (coming up with a style, arrangement, etc.) caused me some minor grief. I wanted to keep it light and not muddy things up too much. So I worked on the arrangement and many months went by. I actually let it sit for the better part of a year before committing to finishing it off once I realized it would make a nice bonus track for my new song collection, "Letters To Myself." Although most of the songs in the collection are somewhat folksy, "Honey Bee" is (to me at least) actually a very folksy kind of tune. What I like about it is that it's very easy to switch styles on this tune - make it more/less jazzy, more rock, blues, ska, or whatever and guess what? It's still a pretty cool song! I suspect a fair number of folks, once they give a listen, will relate to the lyric and music of "Honey Bee"- a little guy, working hard but going a little berserk too. Ah, but that sweet reward - that sweet nectar - make it all worth it! I added "Honey Bee" to the "Letters" collection of songs as a bonus track because it fit thematically, if not stylistically. The message (and maybe this is just another "letter" to myself) is this: "Hang in there; that sweet nectar will come." Here's a bit more on the song from my liner notes: Not originally conceived as part of the "Letters To Myself" songs, "Honey Bee" was unfinished from my summer of 2009 “Cheap Sensations” sessions, which never materialized into a CD release. I was losing interest in most of the material and the burdensome production I seemed to be venturing into was sucking all my creative energies and crashing my computer. So I created a CD called “Sweet Surrender” instead, which was almost completely improvised and had very little in the way of “producing” other than performing and mixing two tracks together. So in the summer of 2010 I re-opened this particular track only to discover it had “bonus track” written all over it. It’s really just a simple little blues tune. I produced it with my Steely Dan hat on, but when I channel Elvis (Presley) and play it on Mandolin, it’s got a really cool vibe to it too. You can read the complete liner notes and lyrics for the "Letters To Myself" songs here: https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1Ez_w-09P6yiAUDE--vKeUC3niMusYAoevMyssdoRFPw&hl=en&authkey=COeS2vkP For more information about my "Letters To Myself" songs, visit: http://www.birdwellmusic.com/Products/LettersToMyself Enjoy! Rob Birdwell