Smokey Robinson

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Robinson had announced plans to leave the Miracles by 1969, tired of constant touring and wanting to stay in Detroit with his wife Claudette and their two children, Berry and Tamla. He informed groupmates Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, and Ronald White of his retirement to focus on his vice-president duties at Motown Records. However, the unexpected success of "The Tears of a Clown"—which became a #1 hit in the UK in September 1970 and then a #1 hit in the US—led Robinson to stay with the act until 1972. The song's lyrics compare his character's sadness over a woman leaving him to the opera Pagliacci, using the line "just like Pagliacci did/I'll try to keep my sadness hid," a comparison he had used before in his 1964 song "My Smile Is Just a Frown (Turned Upside Down)" for Carolyn Crawford.

In Their Own Story

At the 1966 Motown Christmas party, Stevie Wonder brought an instrumental track he and Hank Cosby had written and produced, but for which Wonder could not come up with lyrics. Wonder wanted to see what Robinson could create for the track. Robinson, hearing the calliope motif that sounded like a circus, wrote lyrics about a clown hiding his sadness behind a smile. The song became an album track on 1967's Make It Happen but was not released as a single until 1970, when Motown Britain selected it from the group's catalog due to a lack of new material. One account says Karen Spreadbury, head of the British Motown Fan Club, recommended the track to John Reid, then UK manager for Tamla Motown, who gave the go-ahead for its single release. It became a #1 hit in the UK seven weeks after its July 1970 release.

Reader's Guide

Robinson's role in the creation of "The Tears of a Clown" shows his collaborative relationship with Stevie Wonder. Wonder and Hank Cosby wrote the music and produced the instrumental track; Robinson wrote the lyrics and sang lead. The song features a bassoon played by Charles R. Sirard, making it one of the few hit pop singles to include that instrument. The monaural version of Make It Happen contains an alternate lead vocal with a slightly different verse melody. When Motown released the song as a US single in 1970, they used a new mix made in February 1970, dubbing in new drums and bass—Bob Babbitt is credited as playing bass on that 1970 dub. The US single had two different B-sides: the first pressing had an alternate version of the 1967 Miracles hit "The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage," and the second had a new Miracles song, "Promise Me."

Did You Know?

• Smokey Robinson wrote the lyrics for 'The Tears of a Clown' in 1967 after Stevie Wonder brought an instrumental track to the 1966 Motown Christmas party, unable to come up with lyrics himself.
• The song's line 'just like Pagliacci did/I'll try to keep my sadness hid' was also used by Robinson in a 1964 song he wrote for Carolyn Crawford, 'My Smile Is Just a Frown (Turned Upside Down)'.
• 'The Tears of a Clown' is one of the few hit pop singles to feature a bassoon, played by Charles R. Sirard.
• The song was the Miracles' first and only #1 hit while Smokey Robinson was lead singer, despite the group being one of Motown's premier acts in the early and mid-1960s.
• Robinson had announced plans to leave the Miracles in 1969 but stayed until 1972 due to the success of 'The Tears of a Clown'.