Tag: Ruggero Leoncavallo

I somehow got a lot of singles from relatives when I was a kid. They just ended up at our house. I had the original single of this and I loved it and still do. Smokey has such a smooth and cool voice. I can’t tell you how much I like this song. It’s high on my list of all-time songs I love. I remember being 12 and going to baseball practice and listening to this song before I left…it stayed with me through practice in the heat and that night. His voice is pure gold.

To me, Smokey is like American royalty or a national treasure as people say. When your peers like Dylan, Lennon, and everyone else sing your praises…you are doing something right.

Stevie Wonder and Hank Cosby (producer) came up with the music for this song. Smokey Robinson listened to the song for a few days and decided it sounded like a circus so he came up with the lyrics based on the sad clown Conio from the opera Pagliacci. It was Ruggero Leoncavallo’s opera about fatal jealousies in a traveling troupe of actors based on a real-life story… a case encountered by Leoncavallo’s father, who was a police magistrate in Naples.  Pagliacci was around in the late 1800s.

It was recorded in 1967 and was just an album track on the album Make It Happen. In 1970 it was released as a single (with a new mix) and was a huge hit. The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #7 in Canada, and #1 in the UK. It was written by Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and Hank Cosby. It was recorded in 1967 but it was released in 1970.

It’s hard to believe but this song would be their only #1 hit on the Billboard 100 with Smokey. They had 42 songs in the top 100 and 6 top ten hits. Smokey would soon leave the Miracles after this song. He would be replaced by Billy Griffin on vocals. Now THAT had to be a hard gig to replace Smokey Robinson. Billy did a good job though because they had another number 1 with Love Machine Part 1. He does sound a lot like Smokey.

Smokey Robinson: “I was trying to think of something that would be significant, that would touch people’s hearts, but still be dealing with the circus, so what is that? Pagliacci, of course. The clown who cries. And after he makes everyone else happy with the smile painted on his face, then he goes into his dressing room and cries because he’s sad. That was the key.”

Below is Smokey Robinson telling the story of the song. Below that is the single version that we have all heard. What was it with those 60s-70s shows with the backdrops to the singers? Did they think it was Smokey Robinson and the Plumbers?

Tears of a Clown

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah

Now if there’s a smile on my face
It’s only there trying to fool the public
But when it comes down to fooling you
Now honey, that’s quite a different subject

But don’t let my glad expression
Give you the wrong impression
Really, I’m sad
Oh, I’m sadder than sad
You’re gone and I’m hurtin’ so bad
Like a clown I pretend to be glad

Now there’s some sad things known to man
But ain’t too much sadder than
The tears of a clown
When there’s no one around

Oh yeah, baby

Now if I appear to be carefree
It’s only to camouflage my sadness
In order to shield my pride I’ve tried
To cover this hurt with a show of gladness

But don’t let my show convince you
That I’ve been happy since you
Decided to go
Oh, I need you so
I’m hurt and I want you to know
But for others I put on a show

Oh, there’s some sad things known to man
But there ain’t too much sadder than
The tears of a clown
When there’s no one around, oh yeah

Just like Pagliacci did
I try to keep my sadness hid
Smiling in the public eye
But in my lonely room I cry
The tears of a clown
When there’s no one around

Oh yeah, baby

Now if there’s a smile on my face
Don’t let my glad expression
Give you the wrong impression
Don’t let this smile I wear
Make you think that I don’t care
Really, I’m sad
Hurtin’ so bad