Kay Starr (Katherine Laverne Starks, July 21, 1922 – November 3, 2016) was … Read Full Bio ↴Kay Starr (Katherine Laverne Starks, July 21, 1922 – November 3, 2016) was an American pop and jazz singer who enjoyed considerable success in the 1940s and 1950s.

Kay Starr was successful in every field of music she tried, jazz, country and pop. But her roots were in jazz, Billie Holiday, considered by many the greatest jazz singer of all time, called Starr "the only white woman who could sing the blues."
She is best remembered for introducing two songs that became #1 hits in the 1950s, "Wheel of Fortune" and "The Rock And Roll Waltz".

Kay Starr was born on a reservation in Dougherty, Oklahoma. Her father, Harry, was a full-blooded Iroquois Indian; her mother, Annie, was of mixed Irish and American Indian heritage. When her father got a job installing water sprinkler systems, the family moved to Dallas, Texas.

While her father worked for the Automatic Sprinkler Company, her mother raised chickens, and Kay used to sing to the chickens in the coop. As a result of the fact that her aunt, Nora, was impressed by her singing, she began to sing at the age of seven on a Dallas radio station, WRR, first in a talent competition where she finished third one week and won every week thereafter, then with her own weekly fifteen minute show. She sang pop and "hillbilly" songs with a piano accompaniment. By the age of ten, she was making $3 a night, a lot of money in the Depression days.

As a result of her father's changing jobs, her family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and she continued performing on the radio, singing "Western swing music," still mostly a mix of country and pop. It was while she was on the Memphis radio station WMPS that, as a result of misspellings in her fan mail, she and her parents decided to give her the name "Kay Starr". At the age of fifteen, she was chosen to sing with the Joe Venuti orchestra. Venuti had a contract to play in the Peabody Hotel in Memphis which called for his band to feature a girl singer, which he did not have; Venuti's road manager heard her on the radio, and suggested her to Venuti. Because she was still in junior high school, her parents insisted that Venuti take her home no later than midnight.

Although she had brief stints in 1939 with Bob Crosby and Glenn Miller (who hired her in July of that year when his regular singer, Marion Hutton, was sick), she spent most of her next few years with Venuti, until he dissolved his band in 1942. It was, however, with Miller that she cut her first record: "Baby Me"/"Love with a Capital You." It was not a great success, in part because the band played in a key more appropriate for Marion Hutton, which was less suited for Kay's vocal range.

Honeysuckle Rose
Kay Starr Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Honey, honey,
Oh, honey, listen to my plea:

Every honeybee
Fills with jealousy,
When they see you out with me!
I don't blame them, goodness knows,
Oh, honey! suckle rose!

When you're passin' by,
Flowers droop and sigh
And I know the reason why,
You're my sweety, goodness knows,
Oh, honey! suckle rose!

I don't buy sugar,
You just have to touch my cup;
I don't need sugar,
It's sweet enough when you stir it up!
When I'm taking sips
From your dainty lips,
Seems the honey fairly drips,
You're confection, goodness knows,
Oh, honey! suckle rose.

Every honeybee
Fills with jealousy,
When they see you out with me!
I don't blame them, goodness knows,
Oh, honey! suckle rose!

When you're passin' by,
Flowers droop and sigh,
And I know the reason why,
You're my sweety, goodness knows,
Oh, honey ! suckle rose!

I don't buy sugar,
You just have to touch my cup;
I don't need sugar,
It's sweet -- stir it up!
When I'm taking sips
From your dainty lips,
Seems the honey fairly drips,

You're confection, goodness knows,
Oh, honey! suckle rose.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "Honeysuckle Rose" by Kay Starr describe the overwhelming love and admiration the singer has for her partner, and how they make her feel like she is the sweetest thing in the world. The singer addresses her partner directly as "honey," which is a term of endearment suggesting that they are lovers. She sings about how every honeybee is jealous when they see her partner with her, which can be interpreted as the singer believing that she has the best partner in the world, someone who makes her the envy of others.

The singer compares her partner to a honeysuckle rose, a type of flower known for its sweet scent and nectar. She sings that when her partner walks by, flowers droop and sigh, suggesting that her partner is so beautiful and mesmerizing that everything else fades away in comparison. The song also includes a bit of humor, as the singer says she doesn't need sugar because her partner makes her cup of tea sweet enough. She ends the song by calling her partner a "confection," which is a term used to describe a sweet or delicious thing, emphasizing that her partner is the sweetest thing in the world to her.

Line by Line Meaning

Honey, honey,
I'm sweet on you.

Oh, honey, listen to my plea:
Please pay attention to me.

Every honeybee
Every other woman.

Fills with jealousy,
Is envious of our relationship.

When they see you out with me!
When they see us together.

I don't blame them, goodness knows,
I understand why they feel that way.

Oh, honey! suckle rose!
You're too sweet to resist.

When you're passin' by,
When you're near me.

Flowers droop and sigh
Everything else looks dull and lifeless.

And I know the reason why,
It's because you're my love.

You're my sweety, goodness knows,
You're the love of my life.

Oh, honey! suckle rose!
You're the sweetest thing.

I don't buy sugar,
I don't need anything else.

You just have to touch my cup;
All I need is you.

I don't need sugar,
I don't need anything else.

It's sweet enough when you stir it up!
You make everything better.

When I'm taking sips
When I'm kissing you.

From your dainty lips,
Your soft, tender lips.

Seems the honey fairly drips,
You taste so sweet and delicious.

You're confection, goodness knows,
You're the sweetest thing in the world.

Oh, honey! suckle rose.
You're irresistible.