Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile

Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile
Studio album by Everclear
Released	July 11, 2000
Genre	Alternative rock, powerpop, post-grunge
Length	45:18
Label	Capitol
Producer	Art Alexakis Lars Fox Neal Avron
Everclear chronology
So Much for the Afterglow (1997) Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile (2000) Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 2: Good Time for a Bad Attitude (2000)

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Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile is an album by Everclear, released on July 11, 2000. The album (along with its sequel, Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 2: Good Time for a Bad Attitude) is a loose concept album based around lead singer Art Alexakis' second divorce. The first album is much more influenced by American pop music, especially from the 1970s, as well as being more "loving" in tone than the hard rock Good Time for a Bad Attitude. The album is dedicated to David Ridderhof and Louis Montoya.

The cover art is a parody of the famous painting American Gothic by Grant Wood. It could also allude to the music video for So Much for the Afterglow track, "I Will Buy You A New Life", in which the band can be seen performing in a yard through a spyhole.

"Learning How To Smile" is the band's second highest selling album ever with 1.28 million copies sold. It is also the band's only album to debut in the top ten on the Billboard charts, and the last album by Everclear to sell over 500,000 copies.

Track listing

(All songs by Art Alexakis/Everclear unless otherwise noted.)

1. "Song from an American Movie, Pt 1" – 1:39
2. "Here We Go Again" (samples "Bring the Noise" by Public Enemy) – 4:10
3. "AM Radio" (samples "Mr. Big Stuff" by Jean Knight) – 3:56
4. "Brown Eyed Girl" (Van Morrison) – 4:21
5. "Learning How to Smile" – 3:50
6. "The Honeymoon Song" (Eklund/Everclear) – 3:38
7. "Now That It's Over" – 3:49
8. "Thrift Store Chair" – 2:08
9. "Otis Redding" – 3:56
10. "Unemployed Boyfriend" – 4:15
11. "Wonderful" – 5:01
12. "Annabella's Song" – 4:35
13. "Night Train to Memphis" (Japanese version bonus track)

On the original 2000 release of the album, the divide between tracks 11 and 12 was in the middle of "Annabella's Song." A reissue in 2001 corrected this error, as well as replacing the album version of "AM Radio" with the single mix and adding two bonus tracks: "Out of My Depth (single mix)" and "Rock Star."

Singles

• "Wonderful"
• "AM Radio"
• "Brown Eyed Girl"

Credits

• Art Alexakis - lead guitar, Singer
• Craig Montoya - Bass
• Greg Eklund - drums
• James Beaton - Keyboard
• Lars Fox - Co-producer, percussion, backing vocals
• Neal Avron - Co-producer
• Roy Lott - Executive Producer
• Perry Watts-Russell - Executive producer
• Mike Kent - Additional production and recording
• Sean Cox - Studio assistant
• Andy Banton - Studio assistant
• Mike Ternyik - Studio assistant
• Charlie Paakkari - 2nd engineer
• Frank W. Ockenfels III - Photography