Been doing a deep dive into the Motown sound of the mid-60s, listening to the classics, but also little remembered songs by minor acts. Though I wrote a book about Motown, I wasn’t really familiar with Carolyn Crawford, who recorded for the label in the early ‘60s when she was barely an adolescent. Her 1964 Smokey Robinson produced and co-written “My Smile Is A Frown (Turned Upside Down” made enough noise that it was included in the Motown 1959 to 1971 boxed set of singles.
What was so striking, aside from Crawford’s very assured vocal, was that the lyrical DNA reminded me of two later Smokey penned masterpieces - “Tracks of my Tears” and “Tears of a Clown.” The contradiction of outward happiness and internal sadness is echoed in “Tracks,” which was released by the Miracles a year after Crawford’s single. Very different melody, but the lyrical attitude is the same in both. You could make the argument that there are other songs from that era that Smokey used a similar approach — once the Motown hit machine started rolling he and all the label’s writer/producers were rapidly burning through ideas.
But then I heard Crawford sing, “Just like Pagiliacci did/I’ll keep my sadness hid,” which is repeated exactly in “Tears of a Clown.” If Crawford’s record had been a big hit, I doubt that Smokey would have repeated the reference to the lead character in an Italian opera. Instead, like any good writer, he kept that sentence in his notebook and didn’t just bring it back, but built an entire new song around it.
The record has an interesting history. The Stevie Wonder and Hank Cosby co-written song had been an album track on a Smokey Robinson & the Miracles LP in 1967. Three years later the United Kingdom branch of the company released “Tears” in October 1970, where it went number one and subsequently topped the U.S. R&B and pop charts by the end of that year.
Crawford released a few singles with Motown, none sold in significant numbers, and she was dropped, going on to record for several more labels, cutting and soul and gospel tracks, and performing live for decades.
Smokey’s journey from “My Smile” to “Tears” has a lesson for every writer, don’t toss a good metaphor away — especially if one no noticed it the first time.
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Musican.htm?s=03
One of the best music magazines of the early ‘80s was Musician, a monthly publication for serious music heads that didn’t play the fanzine game and was known for its long interviews. It was crucial to my career. I co-wrote a music biz column with my mentor Rocky Ford for them at one point. More importantly I did one of the first pieces in a national publication on “rapping deejays” for Musician, did a long piece on the Motown session cats, aka the Funk Brothers ,(that led me to write my 1986 history of Motown ‘Where Did Our Love Go?’), and I did a cover story on Michael Jackson and ‘Thriller’ that would inform my ‘Thriller 40’ documentary on Paramount Plus. I also got to interview Quincy Jones and Marvin Gaye for Musician, two of the most memorable sit-downs of my life.
I’ve published much of my Musician material in The Nelson George Mix Tape Volume one (available at www.pacificpacific.pub), but the good news is that all of that’s mag’s issues have now been digitized (see the link above). It is a treasure trove of in depth articles about rock, jazz, and reggae. The major ‘80s stories are uniformly excellent.
When it comes to the first “rap” record, this 1968 track by the comedian Pigmeat Markham must be in any conversation. The drum pattern and the rhyme scheme are on point. We used this track as a plot point in an episode of Netflix’s ‘The Get Down.’
This week is the 40th anniversary of the release of ‘Purple Rain’ in movie theaters. In July Warner Bros. will do an limited release. Can’t wait to see it with fans in a cinema again. Here’s “Let’s Go Crazy,” which opens the film. I’ll have more to say about the film and record later in the week.
Oh my god this Carolyn Crawford song is marvelous! I can imagine the Northern Soul kids in the UK would have coveted this single like mad. And incredible as you say that he repeated the Pagailiacci reference in Tears Of A Clown, such a different vibe in each song too. Great stuff Nelson!