Stevie Wonder

499. Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder – Ebony and Ivory (1982)

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The Intro

Ebony and Ivory started out as a demo for Wings inspired by a marital tiff. It mutated into a well-intentioned but often-ridiculed number 1 duet between Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, two of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time.

Before

Wings had hit their commercial peak in 1977 with the Christmas number 1 double A-side Mull of Kintyre/Girls School. It had eclipsed even The Beatles singles chart figures to become the biggest-selling single ever at that point. However, only two years later, McCartney was growing weary of maintaining the band. He decided his next album would be the first to be billed as a solo effort since 1970’s McCartney, which had caused controversy by being accompanied by a press release that had resulted in the break-up of the Fab Four.

It made sense for the 1980 LP to be named McCartney II, as it was a return to eccentric, loose songs featuring only McCartney. However, this time the instrumentation heavily featured synthesisers. When Coming Up peaked at two, and even impressed John Lennon, he must have felt vindicated in his decision. History (sort of) repeated itself when Denny Laine quit Wings in April 1981, and the band dissolved. Around the same time, McCartney was already working on his next solo album, Tug of War. Sessions had been cancelled earlier that winter after the shocking murder of Lennon.

One of the songs, Ebony and Ivory, had originally been conceived for Wings in 1978, after an argument with his wife Linda. ‘It was like, “Why can’t we get it together? Our piano can.”‘, as he succinctly but unrealistically put it during a 1997 interview with Record Collector.

However, McCartney more recently said in his 2021 book The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present that he wrote and demoed the track in 1980, during the unrest that was starting to take place in the UK, which included a riot at the Black and White Café in Bristol that April. He recalled hearing comedian Spike Milligan say: ‘Black notes, white notes, and you need to play the two to make harmony, folks!’. Of course, he may be misremembering one or the other, or there’s truth in both stories.

Either way, he knew Ebony and Ivory‘s naive messaging would have more resonance if he turned it into a duet with a black male singer – who better than Stevie Wonder?

Stevland Hardaway Judkins was born in Saginaw, Michigan on 13 May, 1950. He was six weeks premature and developed retinopathy of prematurity, which left him blind. We’ll have none of that conspiracy theory claiming he isn’t, here. When he was four his mother divorced and the family moved to Detroit, and he began singing at Whitestone Baptist Church, becoming a soloist aged eight.

Judkins totally fell in love with music and surprised everyone by learning an array of instruments at such a young age. He formed a partnership with a friend, and Stevie and John became known for singing on street corners and performing at local parties.

In 1961, aged 11, Judkins sang his own song, Lonely Boy, to Ronnie White of The Miracles. White could see massive potential and took the boy and his mother, Lula Hardaway, to Motown. CEO Berry Gordy signed him to Tamla and his surname was legally changed to Morris, an old family name. However, he was christened ‘Little Stevie Wonder’ by Gordy and co.

Two albums followed – Tribute to Uncle Ray and The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie, released in reverse order in 1962. The following year, Wonder released the live LP Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius, which featured a performance of the largely instrumental Fingertips. Split across two sides as a single, Fingertips – Part Two rocketed to the Billboard number 1 in the US. Wonder was only 13 when he became the youngest ever act to top the chart.

However, the novelty of ‘Little Stevie’ was in danger of fading as his teen years began, inevitably. His voice was changing and Motown executives were considering dropping him. In 1964 he appeared in two films – Muscle Beach Party and Bikini Beach, and also released a concept album of sorts, Stevie at the Beach, full of lacklustre surfing songs. Wonder was not The Beach Boys, and was floundering.

Fortunately, producer and songwriter Sylvia Moy reckoned it wasn’t over for Wonder yet. Together, with arranger Henry Cosby, they co-wrote the storming single Uptight (Everything’s Alright), which was a very well-deserved hit in 1965. This classic Motown stomper reached three in the US, and was his breakthrough UK hit, reaching 14. His stock having risen once more, he had a few more hits over here, including a cover of Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind (36) and A Place in the Sun (20) in 1966. This was the same year that McCartney and Wonder met for the first time, after the latter had played a gig in London.

Wonder branched out into songwriting for others, co-writing Smokey Robinson and The Miracles’ beautiful The Tears of a Clown in 1967, which became a UK chart-topper three years later. For the rest of the 60s, he would release several classic singles, which featured on albums of otherwise average material. these included I Was Made to Love Her (five in 1967), For Once in My Life (three in 1968) and My Cherie Amour (four in 1969).

The 70s began very promising, with the LP Signed, Sealed & Delivered spawning another classic, his first self-produced song Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours, which surprisingly only reached 15. It also contained that rare feat – a Beatles cover that is perhaps better than the original – We Can Work It Out (27).

In September 1970, Wonder married songwriter Syreeta Wright. They worked together on his next album, Where I’m Coming From, which showcased a more mature sound and themes akin to his labelmate Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. Inevitably the two were compared, and Gaye won out. Wonder’s album was considered a little weird for audiences at the time. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting bridge between Wonder’s earlier work and what was to come, including the lovely ballad Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer and the sweet If You Really Love Me (20).

Wonder’s contract with Tamla was coming to an end, and he was becoming increasingly interested in synthesisers. He used recordings of new material produced alongside Tonto’s Expanding Head Band to leverage a new contract with the label that gave him full artistic control. This was released as Music of My Mind. Hot on its heels was the more successful Talking Book, which came the same year and featured songs recorded at the same sessions. The phenomenally funky Superstition and tender You Are the Sunshine of My Life went to 11 and seven respectively in the UK, and of course the former in particular is among his best work and something I’ll never tire of.

The golden period of Wonder’s music was in full flow, and in 1973 came Innervisions, perhaps his best LP, which spawned excellent singles Higher Ground (29), Living for the City (15) and He’s Misstra Know It All (10).

That August, Wonder was seriously injured. While on tour, a car he was in hit the back of a farm truck, resulting in the star suffering a fractured skull and cerebral contusion. He fell into a coma for four days, but was soon performing once again.

In 1974 came yet another brilliant album. The tongue-twisting Fulfillingness’ First Finale spawned the angry, funky You Haven’t Done Nothin and bouncy Boogie On Reggae Woman, which went to 30 and 12 respectively. Later that year he jammed with McCartney and John Lennon, which eventually surfaced on the bootleg album A Toot and a Snore in ’74.

Anyone would be forgiven for thinking Wonder was simply taking a very well-earned year off in 1975, as no new material was released. But no, he was actually working on double album (and accompanying EP) Songs in the Key of Life. I’m going to be a little controversial here and say it’s possibly a little overrated – but when it’s good, it’s magnificent. Among the considerable highlights are hit singles I Wish (five) and Sir Duke, which sadly just missed out on reaching the top spot – it peaked at two in 1977 and really should have become his first UK number 1. Wonder’s 70s ended with Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through ‘The Secret Life of Plants’. Yes, it was a film score, but it’s hard work and his first misfire in a long time.

The 80s began with a return to form in Hotter Than July. His last great album, it included 1980 singles Master Blaster (Jammin’), which deservedly soared to two, and I Ain’t Gonna Stand for It, which reached 10. The following year, Lately went to three, and Happy Birthday did one better.

That February, Wonder travelled to Montserrat to meet McCartney at AIR Studios. The latter later recalled that his guest had been annoyingly evasive but at last they could begin working together. Sessions took place from 27 February to 2 March. As well as being two of the greatest songwriters of all time, McCartney and Wonder are also adept multi-instrumentalists. On this track, the former played acoustic and bass guitars, piano, synths, vocoder and percussion. The latter played electric piano, synths, drums and percussion. Wonder left McCartney at it to perform overdubs – but not before the two jammed on the funky and far superior What’s That You’re Doing?.

Review

Ah, Ebony and Ivory. Well, first off, I’m not stupid enough to call it either legend’s finest 7-inch, but I’m not here to run it into the ground, either.

The good: I’ve no doubt McCartney and Wonder’s hearts were in the right place. Perhaps the former felt Ebony and Ivory would replicate Lennon’s Imagine? Both are piano-led, both long for a better world, and both have been derided for naive, simplistic, even (in Lennon’s case) hypocritical messaging. McCartney was of course still in the very early days of grieving for his lost songwriting partner. It is of course catchy as hell, and I really like the middle eight instrumental section, straight before the ‘Ebony, ivory, living in perfect harmony’ chanting.

The bad: Yes, the simplicity is patronising and at worst you could accuse McCartney of being treating his audience as morons. It’s a lovely thought to compare white and black people and say, hey, why don’t we all just get on, eh? But it’s also pretty bloody insulting to look past centuries of suffering, of bloodshed, and hatred. It plays into both artists at their worst – that saccharine and cheesy side both can be guilty of. The 80s were of course a rough time for many musical legends, and definitely was the case for McCartney and Wonder. The very fact this song was in effect the first chart-topper for McCartney on his own (we’re not counting Wings’ Mull of Kintyre here) and Wonder is a sad indictment on record buyers in the UK.

The silly: I remember as a very young boy being fascinated by seeing the video on TV. How big must that giant piano that those two men are walking on actually be. Aged 46, it’s hilarious. It’s very clear that both musicians were filmed separately, so with 21st century eyes, they look awkward and that adds another layer to the song’s messaging. The silhouettes of the Rastafarians dancing are embarrassing – and why does McCartney get to portray himself as playing loads of instruments (reminiscent of the video to the way cooler Coming Up), but Wonder is relegated to keyboard only? Possibly McCartney’s ego and/or revenge for Wonder being unavailable at times?

McCartney also recorded a version minus Wonder. Not sure why – it certainly wouldn’t have been to keep racists happy.

After

Ebony and Ivory was always destined to be a hit initially. Two huge stars, together for a good cause. It went to number 1 in many countries and in the US, it meant Wonder had now topped the Billboard chart across three consecutive decades. And it marked the start of a very 80s phenomenon – the pop star duet, in which stars whose stars were in danger of falling would work together to keep in the public eye. The sum usually being great than the parts, at this point in the careers of these artists…

The Outro

McCartney and Wonder’s duet was spoofed and ridiculed right from the start, with Saturday Night Live getting in there first in a sketch featuring the rising comic Eddie Murphy as Wonder. In 2007, listeners to BBC 6 Music voted Ebony and Ivory the worst duet in history. 2025 saw the release of a bizarre biopic under the same name, which plays fast and hard with the making of the song.

But remember this when you laugh at Ebony and Ivory – apartheid was still a thing in 1982, and the South African Broadcasting Corporation banned it – so job done, in a sense.

The Info

Written by

Paul McCartney

Producer

George Martin

Weeks at number 1

3 (24 April-14 May)

Trivia

Births

24 April: Television presenter Laura Hamilton 
26 April: S Club 7 singer Jon Lee
28 April: Reality TV star Nikki Grahame
1 May: Northern Irish actor Jamie Dornan
3 May: Actress Rebecca Hall
4 May: Comedian John Robins
10 May: Footballer Adebayo Akinfenwa

Deaths

24 April: Historian Hilda Stewart Reid
25 April: Actress Celia Johnson
28 April: Cricketer Nobby Clark
30 April: Unionist MP Vernon Willey, 2nd Baron Barnby
1 May: Violist William Primrose
4 May: Liberal/Labour MP Barnett Janner, Baron Janner 
5 May: Scottish footballer Bob Shankly
12 May: Scottish Labour MP James Dempsey/racing driver Edward Ramsden Hall/composer Humphrey Searle
13 May: Scottish footballer Billy Steel

Meanwhile…

24 April: The Eurovision Song Contest is held in Harrogate, Yorkshire. The winning song is Germany’s Ein bißchen Frieden by Nicole.

25 April: The Royal Marines recapture South Georgia during the Falklands War.

29 April: Daniel and Christopher Smith are Britain’s first twins conceived through in vitro fertilisation, born to Josephine and Stewart Smith at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

30 April: The Conservatives return to the top of the opinion polls for the first time since late-1979. The Falklands bounce had begun.

1 May: Operation Black during the Falklands War saw a Royal Air Force Vulcan bomber bomb Port Stanley Airport.

2 May: The most controversial moment of the Falklands War saw nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sink the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano. Two years later, a furious Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher was questioned on TV by a teacher who pointed out the ship was sailing away from the exclusion zone.

4 May: The Sun newspaper runs the simple – moronic, sensationalist, some might say – headline ‘GOTCHA’ to sum up the Belgrano‘s sinking.
Also that day, the Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is badly damaged by an Exocet missile. It sinks six days later.

404. Deniece Williams – Free (1977)

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The Intro

US Grammy-winning soul singer Deniece Williams is probably best known for her US number 1 Let’s Hear It for the Boy from the musical drama Footloose. However, she had a UK number 1 seven years earlier with Free, which seems to have been mostly forgotten about. This is wrong.

Before

June Deniece Chandler was born 3 June 1951 in Gary, Indiana. She grew up singing gospel in a Pentecostal church but at home she particularly loved jazz singers like Nancy Wilson and Carmen McRae. Chandler went to Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland in the hopes of becoming a registered nurse, but she dropped out after a year and a half. Chandler had taken up a part-time job singing and also spent time working as a ward clerk and for a telephone company.

In 1968, as Deniece Chandler, she began recording for The Toddlin’ Tow group of labels in Chicago. Her debut was Love Is Tears. Her early work left little mark, but one song, I’m Walking Away, became popular with the Northern Soul scene in the UK. In 1969 she briefly joined and sang lead with The Lovelites.

In 1971 Chandler became Deniece Williams after marrying high-school sweetheart Kendrick Williams, Around this time, her cousin John Harris was working as a valet for his childhood friend Stevie Wonder. He introduced her to Wonder, and he asked her to join Wonderlove, his group of backing singers. And so Williams had the pleasure of performing on some of Wonder’s greatest work, including the albums Talking Book in 1972, Fulfillingness’ First Finale in 1974 and Songs In the Key of Life in 1976. Williams also featured on Syreeta’s 1974 LP Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta, Minnie Riperton’s Perfect Angel in 1974 and Roberta Flack’s Feel Like Makin’ Love a year later.

But in 1975 Williams decided to try again as a solo artist, befriending Earth, Wind & Fire’s Maurice White. He and record producer Charles Stepney set up production company Kalimba Productions and got her signed to Columbia. Williams worked with them on her debut album, This Is Niecy, released in 1976. A few months before it hit the shops, Stepney died. The first single to be released was Free.

Review

This sprawling sophisticated soul stretches out to 5.58 on the album, but unfortunately it’s hacked back to 2.50 in its single form. It’s a shame as it does take away some of its beauty. But then again, it’s too good a song to keep as just an LP track. Williams puts in a gorgeous performance, cooing and seducing, sweet and sensuous. It’s very refreshing to hear a woman singing about how she has no intention of sticking around once she’s spent the night with this guy. Excellent production from White and Stepney too. It’s very similar in sound to a Gamble & Huff classic, sung by Minnie Riperton. Free definitely deserves to be better known and it’s nice to see the British public sending something like this to the top of the charts for a fortnight.

After

Another single from This Is Niecy – That’s What Friends Are For – followed and also did well here, peaking at eight. White produced Williams’ follow-up album Song Bird alone, but a lone single, Baby, Baby My Love’s All for You only reached 32. In 1978 she guested on Johnny Mathis’ album You Light Up My Life and their duet from it, Too Much, Too Little, Too Late was a US number 1 and climbed to three on these shores. They decided to record a full album together, named after That’s What Friends Are For.

The next few years saw little in the way of chart success, bar It’s Gonna Take a Miracle (10 in the US) from 1982 LP Niecy. Another duet with Mathis, Love Won’t Let Me Wait, was released in 1984. But it was the title track to her next album, Let’s Hear It for the Boy, which saw her make a great comeback later that year. It reached two in the UK and was a US number 1, no doubt helped by its exposure in Footloose. The following year she worked with Wonder again, on his album In Square Circle.

In 1986 Williams went back to her roots, releasing the gospel album So Glad I Know. Over the past few years she had been nominated for many Grammys. She finally won two in 1987 – Best Female Soul Gospel Performance for I Surrender All and Best Duo or Group Gospel Performance with Sandi Patti for They Say. A year later she won Best Female Gospel Performance for I Believe in You. Understandably, with such plaudits coming her way, Williams began concentrating on gospel.

The Outro

Her output began to slow during the 90s but Williams did guest on Nancy Wilson’s 1990 album A Lady With a Song, George Duke’s 1992 album Snapshot and Stevie Wonder’s Conversation Peace in 1995. In 1998 she released This Is My Song, a gospel album that earned her Grammy number four, for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album. WIlliams’ last album to date is 2007’s Love, Niecy Style.

The Info

Written by

Deniece Williams, Hank Redd, Nathan Watts & Susaye Greene

Producers

Maurice White & Charles Stepney

Weeks at number 1

2 (7-20 May)

Trivia

Births

13 May: Actress Samantha Morton

Meanwhile…

7 May: The third G7 summit is held in London.
Also on this day, the 22nd Eurovision Song Contest is held in London. Marie Myriam wins for France with L’oisseau et l’enfant (The Bird and the Child). In second place were the UK thanks to Lynsey de Paul and Michael Moran’s Rock Bottom.

10 May: An explosion at Dounreay nuclear power plant is caused by potassium and sodium.

15 May: Liverpool become English Football League champions for the 10th time.

17 May: The Queen commences her Silver Jubilee tour in Glasgow. 

322. Gilbert O’Sullivan – Clair (1972)

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The Intro

I said you’d never get a song like Mouldy Old Dough at number 1 now, and it also applies to this song that toppled it in the winter of 1972. Thanks to 60s and 70s celebrities like Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris and Gary Glitter (two of which had number 1s), any song referencing love for a child is understandably looked upon with suspicion nowadays. In this song, Irish singer-songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan professes his love for his manager’s young daughter.

Before

O’Sullivan was originally Raymond Edward O’Sullivan, born in Waterford on 1 December 1946. The family moved to Battersea, London when he was seven, and Swindon, Wiltshire a year later. O’Sullivan attended St. Joseph’s and the Swindon College of Art, and he briefly played drums in the band Rick’s Blues. Rick was Rick Davies, who went on to form Supertramp. He taught O’Sullivan drums and piano.

1967 was a big year by O’Sullivan. His then-manager Stephen Shane suggested a name change from Ray to Gilbert as a play on ‘Gilbert and Sullivan’. At the time his songs were avant-garde – so much so, Vivian Stanshall of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band expressed an interest in recording some. He was then signed to CBS Records by Mike Smith, producer of number 1s by The Marmalade, The Love Affair and The Tremeloes.

His first three singles, all credited to just ‘Gilbert’, got nowhere, but things improved after O’Sullivan sent demo tapes to Gordon Mills, manager of Engelbert Humperdinck and Tom Jones. Mills signed him to MAM Records, despite not being a fan of his idiosyncratic image. At a time of long hair and flares, O’Sullivan was going against the grain with a retro look consisting of a pudding-bowl hairstyle, cloth cap and short trousers.

In 1970 O’Sullivan had his first top 10 hit with Nothing Rhymed, considered one of his best tracks. He built on this success the following year with his debut album Himself and singles We Will and No Matter How I Try, which was recognised as Best Ballad or Romantic Song at the 1972 Ivor Novello Awards.

Then came his most famous single. Alone Again (Naturally) was a bleak introspective tale of a man contemplating suicide after being jilted at the altar. This critically-acclaimed 7-inch reached number three here, but topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.

Upon the release of his second album Back to Front, O’Sullivan ditched the old image and went to a different extreme, perming his hair and displaying his hairy chest like labelmate Tom Jones. Despite this, the music contained within was still light melancholic pop with a touch of music hall.

Review

Clair begins as a straightforward love song. O’Sullivan and Clair began as friends, but he knew from the start this was special, and his feelings grew even more as the friendship did. But hang on, there’s an age gap, which has clearly thrown a spanner in the works:

‘But why in spite of our age difference do I cry.
Each time I leave you I feel I could die.
Nothing means more to me than hearing you say,
“I’m going to marry you. Will you marry me? Oh hurray!”‘

Wonder what the gap is… sounds tricky, a teen perhaps?

‘I’ve told you before “Don’t you dare!”
“Get back into bed.”
“Can’t you see that it’s late.”
“No you can’t have a drink.”
“Oh allright then, but wait just a minute.”
While I, in an effort to babysit, catch up on my breath,
What there is left of it.’

Oh… he’s her babysitter… and it’s his manager and producer’s daughter… right.

Now, I’m not going to be silly enough to suggest O’Sullivan is a paedophile, or that everyone who kept this at number 1 for a fortnight condones such behaviour. Clearly they saw this as nothing more than a cute song about this lovely little girl and how he can’t help but love her. They perhaps also liked the punchline of it being about a child, in the same way they Brotherhood of Man’s Save Your Kisses for Me at number 1 for six weeks in 1976. Times have changed.

But yes, there’s no escaping how problematic some of the lyrics are, namely the fact he can see himself marrying Clair eventually, and most of all ‘I don’t care what people say, to me you’re more than a child.’ When we’re only a year off the likes of Glitter conquering the charts, it can’t help but make modern listeners feel queasy.

The Outro

Songs about children are a precarious concept. Even a musical genius like Stevie Wonder overdid it with Isn’t She Lovely, a nice tune that went on far too long and didn’t need baby noises thrown in. John Lennon’s Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) just about stays on the right side of sentimentality. It’s very easy to be too twee and make the listener feel sick, and that’s what Clair does for me, particularly that ‘Oh Clair’ and the giggle at the end. Yuck.

The Info

Written by

Gilbert O’Sullivan

Producer

Gordon Mills

Weeks at number 1

2 (11-24 November)

Meanwhile…

18 November: 100 years to the day since the England men’s team played its first official association football match, the women’s team did the same, against Scotland, in Greenock. They won 3-2.

290. Smokey Robinson and The Miracles – The Tears of a Clown (1970)

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The Intro

Much like Marvin Gaye’s I Heard It Through the Grapevine in 1969, The Tears of a Clown was an album track by Motown legends, several years old, that could have easily languished as a forgotten album track, but is now considered a soul classic.

Before

William Robinson Jr was born 19 February 1940 in Detroit, Michigan. It was his uncle Claude that gave him the nickname ‘Smokey Joe’ while he was still young. He was a clever child, and sporty, but he really loved music. In a 2007 interview with CBS Robinson revealed he and Aretha Franklin lived only a few doors down from each other, and he had known her since she was five.

Robinson formed a doo-wop group called The Five Chimes in 1955, which included schoolfriends Ronald White and Pete Moore. They changed their name two years later to The Matadors. The line-up then consisted of Robinson, White, Moore and cousins Bobby and Claudette Rogers (who Robinson married in 1959).

The Matadors auditioned for Brunswick Records but failed. However, among those watching was songwriter Berry Gordy Jr, who was impressed with Robinson’s voice in particular. Gordy recorded what was to become their debut single around the time they settled on The Miracles as their name. Got a Job was given to End Records to distribute – Gordy made the princely sum of $3.19 for his production, and Robinson suggested he start his own record label. Which he did, in 1959, and he called it Tamla Records. Bad Girl became their first single to chart in the US, and around this time guitarist Marv Tarplin, fresh from playing with The Primettes (later The Supremes) joined Robinson and co to form the classic line-up.

The Miracles’ first hit came in 1960, when Shop Around reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the R’n’B chart. It was only modest successes on Motown Records after that until the classic You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me in 1962. The group’s brand of bittersweet, smooth soul, with Robinson’s beautiful voice, made them Motown’s top-selling act and earned them rave reviews for their live performances, which helped them become known as ‘The Showstoppers’.

But The Miracles were so talented, they all helped write some of Motown’s greatest songs sung by other groups. I’m talking soul classics such as The Way You Do the Things You Do and My Girl for The Temptations and My Guy by Mary Wells. Most other Motown acts had their songs written by staff songwriters, but The Miracles mostly recorded their own.

Around 1964, Robinson was made vice president of Motown, and other members of The Miracles took jobs within the label. Unfortunately, Smokey and Claudette made plans to start a family, but the intense touring schedule was believed to contribute to several miscarriages by Claudette, and in 1965 she quit touring, TV and and publicity photos, despite continuing to record until 1972.

That same year they finally made their way into the UK singles chart with one of Motown’s best songs, The Tracks of My Tears, from the album Going to a Go-Go, reaching number nine. From this album onwards they became known as Smokey Robinson and The Miracles. In 1966 (Come Round Here) I’m the One You Need reached number 13.

At that year’s Motown Christmas Party, Robinson was approached by fellow label legend Stevie Wonder with a backing track he had come up with along with his producer Hank Cosby. Wonder wondered (sorry) if Robinson wanted to work on it, as he was stumped for any lyrics. After a few days, Robinson felt inspired to come up with something circus-themed to match the distinctive opening, and went back to the clown in the opera Pagliacci, who puts on a show for his audience while crying on the inside. He had used this before in the 1964 song My Smile Is Just A Frown (Turned Upside Down), written for Carolyn Crawford. Weirdly, Little Stevie Wonder covered (I’m Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over, which also referenced Pagliacci, on his album Tribute to Uncle Ray in 1962.

For that famous circus-like opening, they hired Charles Sirard from The Detroit Symphony Orchestra to play the bassoon, which is the low burbling sound beneath the piccolo by Jim Horn. Horn would also feature on albums by The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys.

The Tears of a Clown became the closing track on Smokey Robinson and The Miracles’ 1967 album Make It Happen. And, unbelievably, there it stayed for three years. In the meantime I Second That Emotion was a top 30 hit on these shores that year, but then the UK hits dried up once more.

By 1969, Robinson was ready to quit the group and concentrate on his role as Motown vice president and be at home more for Claudette, as they had finally started a family. But all that was to change in 1970, when the frustrated British division of Motown asked Karen Spreadbury, head of a Motown fan club here, to pick a song they could release as a single, and she chose The Tears of a Clown.

Review

Motown may be a legendary label, and for good reason, but you do have to wonder about how many hits they let slip through the net when you look at the stories behind The Tears of a Clown and I Heard It Through the Grapevine. Perhaps Gordy (and Wonder, before he became more experimental) found that opening too weird, without realising its exactly that which draws the listener in to begin with. But Robinson was such an expert songsmith he’s able to keep up the momentum, with his always wonderful, soaring vocal and great lyrics.

The idea of a song about a man masking his pain had been done plenty of times before, including by Robinson himself on The Tracks of My Tears. However, I’d argue Robinson’s lyrics here make The Tears of a Clown the definitive example. I particularly like ‘But don’t let my glad expression/Give you the wrong impression’ and the chorus. Robinson is a man on top of his game here. A sad song about heartbreak that’s uplifting and you can dance to it. Oh, and of course, Robinson’s voice. What’s not to love?

After

The renewed interest in Smokey Robinson and The Miracles meant The Tears of a Clown was then released in the US, albeit in a new mix. It reached number 1 in their home country too.

This double success persuaded Robinson to stay on as lead singer for longer. They had their own TV special in the US, The Smokey Robinson Show, also starring The Supremes, The Temptations and Stevie Wonder. One more hit, 1971’s I Don’t Blame You at All followed, and then Robinson decided it was time to go in 1972, introducing Billy Griffin as his replacement. Their final album together was Flying High Together, including the ironic single We’ve Come Too Far To End It Now. Claudette chose to retire entirely from the group too, and within a year Tarplin had gone.

Their first releases in 1973 landed without trace, but they scored a 1974 US hit with funk song Do It Baby. And then in 1976 came the great disco smash Love Machine – Part 1, which was a US number 1 and reached number three in the UK. Despite this, The Miracles left Motown and signed with Columbia Records in 1977, but the hits dried up again, and they split in 1978.

In 1980 The New Miracles were formed and lasted three years. Then in 1983 the Robinsons, Moore, Tarplin and Rogers reunited to perform a medley on the TV special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever.

In 1993 White, Rogers and New Miracles member Dave Finley reformed The Miracles with former Shalamar singer Sydney Justin. Sadly White died in 1995. The group continued to perform until 2011, with even Claudette returning to the fold (now divorced from Smokey), but age caught up with some of the longest-serving members. Tarplin died in 2011, then Rogers in 2013, then Moore in 2017.

The Outro

Smokey Robinson went on to have a solo UK number 1 in 1981 with Being With You, so I’ll cover his solo career and the controversy with his entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in due course.

The Tears of a Clown has been covered time and time again, and the most notable version is Tears of a Clown, a well-deserved number six hit for ska and new wave group The Beat in 1979.

The Info

Written by

Hank Cosby, Smokey Robinson & Stevie Wonder

Producers

Hank Cosby & Smokey Robinson

Weeks at number 1

1 (12-18 September)

Trivia

Births

18 September: Cricketer Darren Gough

Meanwhile…

18 September: US rock star and guitar god Jimi Hendrix, died in London from a suspected drug-induced heart attack, aged only 27.