“Uncertain Smile” by The The

"Uncertain Smile" is the song that first put the The on the chart, and Matt Johnson made it twice. The original came out as a single in October 1982; he then cut it again for his debut album Soul Mining, and that version was reissued as a single in November 1983.

Johnson wrote it and does nearly everything on it himself, singing and playing guitar, keyboards and percussion, with Andy Duncan on drums and Camelle Hinds on bass, and Paul Hardiman co-producing, recording and mixing. It's a moody, loping thing, with a nagging melodic hook and Johnson's voice sounding wry and wounded at once, the sound of somebody who can't quite trust the good feeling he's having.

What people remember most, though, is how the album version ends: a long piano outro played by Jools Holland, formerly of Squeeze, rolling and tumbling on and on like he couldn't bear to stop. The first release reached 68 in the UK and 43 in Australia, and the 1983 reissue made 31 in the Netherlands.

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