Just Like Honey

Just Like Honey is a beautiful song. It's very rare to have a lyricist that can blend very different emotions and make them work together, and that's exactly what makes this song so powerful. It's incredibly simple. To me, this song has three basic elements: frustration, love, and sex. It sounds like he is saying in the beginning that she is moving up in the world and he is happy for her, but at the same time he's angry and frustrated by it. He's repeating "it's so good," and I do not think that's a direct reference to sex...I think it's more along the lines that he knows he should be happy for her, but that when she moves up, he feels left behind. This is also referenced in the lines, "Walking back to you is the hardest thing that I can do," and "eating up the scum is the hardest thing for me to do," He's saying that he feels like he's inferior. Like he's no longer good enough for her. I think at the same time he's battling the frustration, he's saying "I'll be your plastic toy", which I think is a cleverly veiled sexual reference but also it's another way of saying no matter how inferior he feels or how frustrated he is about what's going on in the relationship, he loves her and he won't leave her. Even though walking back to her is the hardest thing he can do, he'll stay with her even if it means being her "plastic toy."

I haven't seen LIT.

I don't think the song's about oral sex either. But I don't know the band at all. I just heard the song recently. Here are my thoughts on it:

Listen to the girl. As she takes on half the world...

Clearly (to me) every other stanza in the song quotes the words of the girl, speaking to the other (male) half of the world.

She's agreeing to leave her natural sweetness behind (her honey-dripping behive, her life) to go back into the world (or maybe just back to one guy) and the demands it/he places on her. Sexual, emotional, whatever.

"I'll be your plastic toy" - She's offering a plastic (lesser, more fake) version of herself because that's what's wanted from her.

And as she eats all the shit thrown at her by the world/her guy she keeps telling herself "just like honey" - an act of willpower that allows her to continue doing it.

In other words, I think the song's written from a feminine point of view. Interesting.

Oh come on, people, if you can be bothered to register on a website about Song MEANINGs, surely you can be bothered to look past the blatantly obvious surface interpretation (in this case oral sex) and find something a little more MEANINGful than that?

I think 42 steps's interpretation is really interesting, since I've never thought about the song as coming from the girl's perspective, but that all does make a lot of sense when you listen to it again, especially the repetition of "just like honey" as the girl trying to carry on taking the crap every day.

Personally I've always seen it as a man who's lost a woman and then sees her "taking on half the world"- ie the male gender- trying to find a new guy. He sees (and "listen"s) to her as she uses all her sweetnesss and all her tricks to seduce someone, and then her "dripping honey" makes him fall for her all over again. He hates admitting he was wrong ("walking back to you is the hardest thing that I could do") by going back to her, but he's under her spell so he'll do anything and be anything (I see "plastic toy" as his willingness to become a mere object, so she can do what she wants with him) to get her back. For me, the repeated bit at the end is partly his obsession with the woman, partly him trying NOT to remember the reasons they broke up in the first place- trying to convince himself that she's so sweet, things couldn't go wrong again.

And by the way, before I get the same kind of kind, considerate (ahem) reply that others have already received, I'm not saying this IS what the song is written about or what everyone should hear... its just my interpretation.

:)

i think it might be about someone who is in love with someone (that is a friend perhaps) and would do anything for them (be their plastic toy etc.) but the person doesnt love them back and breaks their heart by pursuing other people. maybe eating up the scum is perservering and holding in the feelings and still being their friend despite how much it hurts them.

this is actually just the situation that i am in...haha. but i think the lyrics can apply to it.

I think this song has different levels to it. It's definitely not one-dimensional. As an avid JAMC fan, I know that their lyrics manage to be simple & layered at the same time.

It is both about oral sex and a relationship. The allusions to oral sex are a metaphor for something more.

"Listen to the girl As she takes on half the world Moving up and so alive In her honey dripping beehive Beehive It's good, so good, it's so good So good"

This is a determined girl who is going places. He's enamored with her. "Honey-drippin beehive" is an allusion to her anatomy, but also to her being charming & yet able to bring pain (honey is sweet, but beehives have bees in them). It's "good" because he gets to be connected to her in some way, both sexually and emotionally. It's a double edged sword for him.

"Walking back to you Is the hardest thing that I can do That I can do for you For you"

He feels unworthy of her. "Walking back" implies he left for some reason. Maybe he did something wrong, and now he has to swallow his pride in order to win her back, and that is a hard thing to do.

"I'll be your plastic toy I'll be your plastic toy For you"

He'll let her use him...however she wants, just so he can be with her. This can be sexually and emotionally. He's possibly doing this as a way of winning her back again.

"Eating up this scum Is the hardest thing for Me to do"

Obvious oral sex allusion there, but also admitting it is hard to go back to someone and admit you are wrong. The phrasing makes me think of the expression "eat your own words", which is admitting you were wrong. He is willing to humiliate himself because he thinks she is worth it.

"Just like honey"

Ultimately, she is sweet & desirable like honey, and however difficult it may be to get this girl back, it is worth it. Just as getting honey from a beehive presents certain difficulties ;)

I find it funny how so many people are insistent on denying the obvious sexual implications made in this song. So what if it's about oral sex, even at least partially? Just because it's dirty, it doesn't mean that the two people involved in it don't like each other/love each other/whatever.

As has been said, I think the other obvious interpretation is that it resembles a relationship, but it's ridiculous to deny the sexual overtones, since this whole album is rich with them and that's part of what makes it so great. In that sense, I love how dirty and raw the production is...pretty much goes perfectly with the sexual side of Psychocandy.

If you think this song is only about sex, then you have limited the song too much, in my opinion. Does it have sexual undertones? Yes, very much so. Are they explicit? Not at all. If you're writing about only one thing, is it a good idea to be explicit? Yeah.

The only reasons, then, for the obscurity of the sexual references that I can think of are either pretentiousness, or the fact that the song was about more than one thing.

Personally, if I had to take a stab at it, I would say that the song is about a relationship, and the things that we choke down for the sake of love, the debasement that we endure for the sake of others. Sexually, emotionally, socially.

The real "LOL" is at the elitist who think they're cool for having heard this song well before Lost in Translation used it and berate those who haven't. If these recent fans aren't causing trouble, just shut up and let them enjoy the song and speak (briefly) about how it relates to the movie.

Get a grip, some of you.

The Song is about the 1958 play entitled "A taste of Honey"

The film is about forbidden love between a black man and the daughter of a single mum in Salford nr Manchester

I think the plastic toy may also refer to the doll that the main character was given to prepare her for motherhood.

Its about accepting that the one you love might not be acceptable to those around you but being so hopelessly in love that you would take all the shit in the world to be with that person.

Its not about oral sex...that would be quite shallow.. lol

if it were about oral sex that would be quite disgusting, especially with the "eating up the scum" part.