“The Tears Of A Clown” by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

"The Tears of a Clown" first turned up as an album cut on Make It Happen, the 1967 LP by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles on Motown's Tamla label, and it took three years and an ocean for it to get its due. Robinson wrote it with Stevie Wonder and Hank Cosby, supplied the words and sings lead; Marvin Tarplin plays guitar, the Funk Brothers drive the track, and Claudette Robinson, Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers and Ronald White sing the background vocals.

Reissued as a single in Britain in July 1970, it was number one there by mid-September. A partly re-recorded, remixed version then topped both the pop and R&B charts in America. The hit changed Robinson's plans: he had announced he was leaving the group, but stayed on until 1972. It went into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.