Sneak of the Week: Honeybus, “Hear Me Only”

A sweet shot of heartache from a band blessed by The Beatles.

There are singers whose voices can hold the hurt of all humanity inside them. Ray Charles, when he dug down deep into a well of sadness on tunes like “Drown in My Own Tears.” Roy Orbison, when he flung open the doors of his soul and invited the public at large into his internal tragic opera on “Only the Lonely.” And Honeybus singer/songwriter Pete Dello, when he flew his heart’s tattered flag for all the world to witness on “Hear Me Only.”

British quartet Honeybus wasn’t around for long, and they never made the slightest stirring in American waters. But they created some of the most perfectly crafted UK pop songs of the ‘60s, on a par with The Zombies, The Kinks, and even the Fab you-know-how-many. In fact, The Beatles were so impressed with them that they invited Honeybus to the world premiere of the Yellow Submarine movie. Ironically, the band was signed by Decca Records, the label that notoriously rejected The Beatles. (Maybe Decca wanted to make sure they didn’t make any other major flubs).

Honeybus hit big only once, denting the UK Top 10 in 1968 with “I Can’t Let Maggie Go.” Getting an up-close glimpse of fame, the shy, retiring Dello ran in the opposite direction almost immediately, quitting the band. He released one solo album (1971’s gorgeous Into Your Ears), then rejoined Honeybus long enough to cut Recital, his only album with the band, which went unreleased for four-and-a-half decades.

Even in the scant Honeybus catalog, “Hear Me Only” is an outlier. Never released during the band’s lifetime, it appeared as a bonus track on both the CD reissue of Into Your Ears and a Honeybus anthology. But it was apparently recorded around the time of Recital, so it’s presumably an unreleased band tune rather than a solo outtake.

Seemingly a communique from a man either embedded in or departing a dysfunctional relationship, “Hear Me Only” will instantly fill the air with sorrow wherever it’s heard. But it’s the kind of sorrow that strikes an emotional chord so resonant you want to replay it as many times as circumstance allows. Dello’s delivery is soft and subtle, but it sets up a direct line from his mouth to your heart in a setup not dissimilar to Lennon’s early solo ballads.

There’s not a lot surrounding the vocals, just a couple of acoustic guitars, an ultra-slight sprinkle of electric guitar, and the most minimal amount of percussion possible—only some low-key castanet clicking for most of the song. But part of the track’s genius is the way that its spare arrangement builds with a succession of small additions. Each time around, another layer is added to the fulsome flow of vocal harmonies, and at the coda, just a tiny dash of tambourine is enough to lift the momentum to another level.

After things came apart with Honeybus, Dello retreated from the music biz once more, but this time for good. He spent the rest of his life as a teacher and passed away at the age of 83 on February 21, 2026. But Dello’s legacy lingers on, everywhere from a Joe Cocker cover of Honeybus’s “Do I Still Figure in Your Life” on his milestone debut album, Mad Dogs and Englishmen, to Dello’s influence on celebrated songwriters like Paul Kelly, Thomas “Pugwash” Walsh, and Wesley Stace aka John Wesley Harding.

-Jim Allen

Fair use image of Honeybus