A Certain Smile - Sammy Fain-Paul Francis Webster

[Keith88]

"A Certain Smile" is a 1958 song composed by Sammy Fain with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster for the film of the same name. It is one of many songs the duo created for films of the period, the most notable being "Secret Love" and "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" (both won the Academy Award for best song in their year), "April Love," "Tender Is The Night," and "A Very Precious Love."

"A Certain Smile" has a standard ABAC structure. Of interest is its use at the beginning of the B section of the vii minor (rather than half-diminished) leading to the ii of the tonic, resembling the B section of "What A Difference A Day Made" (they are both in the same default key of F major and the E minor chord stands out in both songs).

The song was a big hit for Johnny Mathis, who appeared as a singer in the film. His performance, as well as many others, can be found on Youtube. I suggest you listen to Gaynor Ellen performance at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSkdYais6Kg. There is a performance by Astrud Gilberto and Walter Wanderley that unfortunately reveals her vocal limitations and an instrumental by Beegie Adair that doesn't take advantage of her improvisational abilities; she is a wonderful jazz pianist. Finally, there is a performance by Englebert Humperdink that is a bit over the top.

Sammy Fain was a composer of many great and popular songs, with nine pages of titles at the Songwriters Hall of Fame web site (http://songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C50). His hits include "Dear Hearts and Gentle People," "I'll Be Seeing You," "That Old Feeling," "Alice In Wonderland," and "The Second Star to the Right." He was also a well-known singer in the 1920s and '30s. Check out his performance of his own song "You Brought A New Kind of Love" from 1930 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iMc2BgFcu4.

There are at least two chord charts for "A Certain Smile" that have been previously posted. While I mean no disrespect to whoever created them, they both have strange chord changes and don't work well as backings for improvisation. Thus, I'm submitting this chart for this song. It works well with the Ballad Swing style at 100 bpm.

A Certain Smile (K rev) - Fain-Webster

[engelbach]

Thanks, Keith.

Your changes make for much better jazz than the others, although I do like to use this going into the second ending:

| C7 - A7/C# - | Dm7 - Db7alt - | Cm7 - B7 - |

And thanks for the background info. I remember the film. I saw it in the movies with my then girlfriend at all of 15 years of age.

Cheers,
Jer

[Keith88]

Hi Jer,

I have to say that I never thought of a cadence in Dm at the end of the second A section. I do like your use of a chromatic bass line with tritone subs going into the C section.

While I'm at it, I would like to complement you on the high quality of the large group of chord charts that you recently posted. I downloaded several of them and found them both musically inventive as well as instructive in how you took advantage of the features of iReal Pro. Your chart of "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing," by the same duo of Fain and Webster makes the best of a tune I have always really disliked--it even comes complete with blowing changes! I enjoyed playing through your chart of "I Remember You" replete with tritone subs and chromatic bass lines. I also found your chart of "I Have Dreamed" particularly interesting because I have always had problems in coming up with what I considered to be satisfactory changes for parts of the tune. I will be submitting a chart of my own for this tune in the near future with a different set of changes. I do like the way you used N.C. for rhythmic interest at the end of the chart. These charts are very instructive on how to get the most out of the iRP app.

Greetings from cold NJ to warm Mexico.

[engelbach]

Thanks so much, Keith.

Please excuse the belated reply. I don't get on here every day.

I'm in the mountains at 7000 feet. Warm days here, but the thin air doesn't hold the day's heat, and nights in winter can drop down to the 30s.

Cheers,
Jer