Charlie Chaplin, famous for making people laugh, was also good at making music. He composed “Smile” for his last silent movie “Modern Times” in 1936 with the help of composer David Raksin.
The first phrase of the melody is identical to a phrase (Cavaradossi singing “Quale occhio al mondo può star di paro”) in the first act love duet from Tosca, Puccini’s opera.
In 1954, lyrics were added to the melody by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons. Nat King Cole recorded the first version with these lyrics and reached #10 on the Billboard charts.
This chord melody arrangement of Smile uses drop 2 and drop 3 chords, combined with 6ths (more about guitar intervals).
Recommended listening:
- Nat King Cole – Ballads of The Day (1954)
- Tony Bennett – Single (1959)
- Chet Atkins (parts of the melody played with harmonics) – Alone (1973)
- Bireli Largrene – Standards (1992)
Video & Sheet Music/Guitar Tabs
Listen & Play-Along
You can hear Chaplin’s grief over reluctantly relinquishing his beloved “Little Tramp” silent movie character in his last great silent picture “Modern Times,” which came out in the 30s, well after the advent of “talkies” or talking pictures. Still need to get up to speed on playing it, but wonderful, and thanks.
Supplementing my own post: Looking at the news and then playing the song brought to mind that this music is also singularly and deeply appropriate for our own “modern times.”
Thanks for connecting the dots for me to “modern times”, Randy. That resonated deeply for me. Smile, my friend.
Beautiful transcription, very nice thank you Kirk 🎸🙏
I loved this arrangement.
Thank you very much!
Precioso….y asequible…para los que estamos aprendiendo. Me anima a seguir practicando.
Un millón de gracias.
Dirk A million THANKS
Capolavoro eterno interpretato alla grande , grazie Dirk dei tuoi regali
Sweet and lovely😀👌
Nice mellow tune for evening gatherings of lovers and friends.
Thanks (I’m smiling 🙂 now )
very sweet … Charlie Chaplin! Einstein said the only reason he wanted to come to the USA was to meet Chaplin …
When I was a kid in the 60s my dad would play this on the piano and it always made me happy.
A lovely transcription, thankyou very much Dirk!
une bonne base très accessible ….à partir de laquelle je place quelques ” tournures ” personnelles pour plus de fluidité dans certains passage .