A certain smile

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A Certain Smile is a song written by Sammy Fain (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics) that was released in 1958.

Use of the song

Johnny Mathis (2006)

Fain and Webster wrote the song for the film of the same name (1958) by Jean Negulesco , which was based on the novella Un certain sourire (1955) by Françoise Sagan . Johnny Mathis introduced the song as a bar singer in the film. In the heyday of rock 'n' roll , Fain / Webster relied on the type of singer of romantic ballads and softer sounds with their song; A Certain Smile was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Song category, which Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner finally received in 1959 for the song Gigi .

The song begins with the lines:

But in the hush of night
Exactly like a bitter sweet refrain
Comes that certain smile
To haunt your heart again

First recordings and cover versions

Johnny Mathis played the song accompanied by Ray Ellis and His Orchestra; B-side of the Columbia single was Let It Rain . Mathis was successful in the English and American charts with A Certain Smile . As early as 1959, Mantovani recorded an easy listening version; from the beginning of the 1960s the song was often covered, u. a. by Sunny Gale , Tony Crombie , Astrud Gilberto / Walter Wanderley , Ruud Brink , Ted Greene and Tim Eyerman . Also Lol Coxhill on his album The Inimitable (1985) to the song accepted. Tom Lord lists 23 cover versions of the title.

Web links

  • Inclusion in the catalog of the German National Library: DNB 1006066799

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Colin MacKenzie: Mantovani: A Lifetime in Music 2005, p. 224
  2. ↑ Susan Sackett, Marcia Rovins: Hollywood sings !: an inside look at sixty years of Academy Awards . 1995 - page 149
  3. ↑ The 31st Academy Awards at IMDb (English)
  4. ↑ In the Jockey Charts the song reached number 14, in the best seller charts number 21 and in the Top 100 number 19. Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 387 - The song reached number 4 in the British charts. Nugent, Stephen / Fowler, Anne / Fowler, Pete: Chart Log of American / British Top 20 Hits, 1955- 1974 . In: Gillett, Charlie / Frith, Simon (eds.): Rock File 4 . Frogmore, St. Albans: Panther Books, 1976, p. 240
  5. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed January 6, 2014)