Let’s dispense with the important disclaimer: The song lyric that follows is in no way about my wife. I wrote it years before we ever met, in 1979, at age 20, around the same time as “Seventh Star Dreamer“.
I got to thinking about “Show Me a Smile” today while discussing high neighborhood rents. I reminisced about my first apartment costing just $40 a week—and being more visually appealing than the great place where we live now. Most of my best songwriting goes back to that first flat.
None of my lyrics is about me, and this one less so than most. I wasn’t married or even in a romantic relationship. The ditty came out as if dictated to me. I had a lot of alone time in that apartment (when not at my third-shift factory job)—and that somehow spurred creativity.
I don’t recall what might have trigged the song but surmise this: The women in my immediate family—from great-grandmother to sisters—all shared similar toughness quality. Growing up, I would see flighty, insecure, made-up, society-girl types in movies or TV shows and disbelieve such women could exist. College exposed me to some of them, and perhaps prompted the song. But, to repeat, I don’t recall.
If you like this one, or “Seventh Star Dreamer”, please look at some of my other lyrics or songs: “Cries by Day, Cries by Night“; “Dank Deep Eyes the Darkness“; “Disco Queen“; “Empire State“; “Joe College“; “Road to Jericho“; “Surrealistic Pillow“.
Show Me a Smile
I’m not very intuitive
I can’t read your mind
You’re not so easy to live with
Some of the time
Upon the bureau
Lies the face you paint
And in the mirror sometimes
You make a mistake
You…
Show me a smile
I see through your painted face
Your eyes are filled with joy
Before an emptiness erases your smile
I wish you could stay more than awhile
Show me a smile
Show me a smile
Ninety-percent of my life
Is focused on your thoughts
One minute I see my wife
And then a stranger trots
Into the bedroom
She lies upon the bed
She takes her hands into mine
And slowly turns her head
You…
Show me a smile
I see through your vacant face
Your eyes are filled with joy
Before a sadness erases your smile
I wish you could stay more than awhile
Show me a smile…
Show me a smile
I see through your painted face
Your eyes are filled with joy
Before an emptiness erases your smile
I wish you could stay more than awhile
Show me a smile
Show me a smile!
©1979 Joe Wilcox
Note: The lyric’s copyright is one of this blog’s exceptions: All Rights Reserved. Because the work as presented here is only partial. Melody is missing.
Photo Credit: Benjamin Disinger