“The Tracks of My Tears” by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

Prime Smokey. Apex Motown.

Programming note: It’s Motown Hits Week! This week, I’m writing about five R&B classics that sold millions of copies for the world-famous label. Unlike other themed weeks, these songs are all massive hits and will likely be recognizable to many of you. If you’re new to or unfamiliar with Motown and its rich history, this week’s content is also a great starting point. All killer, no filler … not to mention some of the best vibes around.

Hope you enjoy it!

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Hello! 😊👋

Welcome to a new edition of the Daily Music Picks newsletter!

Today’s music pick is a prime example of what makes Smokey Robinson a special vocalist and songwriter.

Genre: Pop, R&B

Label: Motown

Release Date: June 23, 1965

Vibe: 🥲

With all due respect to other incredible Motown artists, for me, Smokey Robinson has always stood out as the label’s quintessential personality. He’s a Motor City native, briefly held the position of Motown Records VP in the early 1970s, and, as a vocalist and songwriter, he threaded the needle between tender vulnerability and mainstream accessibility perfectly. Amid the dozens of hits he wrote for the Miracles and other Motown groups like the Four Tops and the Contours, no hit single exemplifies the Smokey Robinson experience quite like “The Tracks of My Tears.”

Written by Robinson and Miracles members Pete Moore and Marv Tarplin (that’s the latter’s famous guitar lick you hear in the opening seconds), it’s so incredibly catchy that, even if you’ve heard it hundreds of times, you tend to forget how much of a downer the lyrics are. The chorus alone (”So take a good look at my face/You'll see my smile looks out of place”) has become such a universal depiction of masking sadness or depression that we take it for granted. Think of the song’s well-known inclusion in Oliver Stone’s Platoon: is there another needle drop that could get the idea of laughing through pain across more effectively?

Over the years, the song’s been called many things, from a “first-rate teen ballad” to a “slow-shufflin’ pop-R&B tearjerker.” Still, I’ve always thought those summaries of that nature don’t encapsulate how universally relatable the lyrics are. Towards the end of the track, Smokey proclaims: “My smile is my makeup/I wear since my break up with you.” It’s so on-the-nose and yet never fails to instantly transport me back to moments of unrequited affection from my teenage years (insert big sigh here). I’m positive I’m not the only one, too.

If you’re unfamiliar with Robinson’s body of work, I should mention that not all of his hits were as gloomy as this one. As a solo artist, he leaned more into balladeering and practically invented the R&B subgenre known as Quiet Storm. And yet, for all his success, no song cuts through your emotional defenses quite like this masterpiece.

👉 Don’t forget to click the album image to stream the album on your favorite platform 👈