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Smiley Faces

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For other uses, see Smiley (disambiguation).
"Smiley Faces"
Single by Gnarls Barkley
from the album St. Elsewhere
B-side"Go-Go Gadget Gospel"
Released17 July 2006
GenrePsychedelic soul
Length3:05
LabelWarner Music
Songwriter(s)Brian Burton
Thomas Callaway
Producer(s)Danger Mouse
Gnarls Barkley singles chronology
"Crazy"
(2006) 		"Smiley Faces"
(2006) 		"Who Cares? / Gone Daddy Gone"
(2006)
Audio sample
Alternative covers
UK CD2 cover
Music video
"Smiley Faces" on YouTube

"Smiley Faces" is a song by Gnarls Barkley and is featured on their debut album, St. Elsewhere. It was released 17 July 2006 as the second single from that album in the United Kingdom (see 2006 in British music).

Music videos

Like the single "Crazy", there are also two different music videos for this song.

The mockumentary-style music video for "Smiley Faces", directed by Robert Hales shows a music historian (played by Dennis Hopper) and an A&R executive (played by Dean Stockwell) being interviewed about whether or not Gnarls Barkley (the person) exists and pondering over whether Barkley is behind the music scene. The video shows musical acts and cultural events from the 1920s to the 1990s, with Cee-Lo and producer Danger Mouse in the background. The effect is similar to that of Woody Allen editing himself into archival film footage in Zelig.[1] (Danger Mouse has spoken of Woody Allen's films, and Allen's auteur approach as having an influence on his music.) In September 2007, the video won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing. There was another music video made directed by Marc Klasfeld and animated by Edgar Reyes, featuring an instant messaging smiley with a gangster smileys' wife (who takes her top off for him), going to a sex dungeon, killing the gangster with a chainsaw, getting arrested and sent to prison, getting broken out of prison by the gangsters' wife, being at a Gnarls Barkley concert (who were also both in smiley form), drinking a lot and being sick, going home with the gangsters wife and then her getting three of her topless friends, with the main smiley being very happy. This video was originally put on music channels (in the UK) before the mockumentary video (above), but was banned due to sexual scenes (although as they were smileys it wasn't really nudity) and violent scenes. This video for it can still be found on YouTube, however. Still another video version, popular on YouTube features Mark Monero.

Trivia

The song was used in Season 4 of Strictly Come Dancing. Louisa Lytton and her professional partner Vincent Simone danced the Jive to the song and scored the first 10 of the series.

Track listing

UK CD1
  1. "Smiley Faces" - 3:05
  2. "Smiley Faces" (Live On Later with Jools Holland) - 3:14
UK CD2
  1. "Smiley Faces" (Radio Edit) - 2:43
  2. "Go-Go Gadget Gospel" - 2:15
  3. "Crazy" (Video) - 3:00
  4. "Exclusive Microsite"
UK 12" Vinyl
  1. "Smiley Faces" - 3:05
  2. "Go-Go Gadget Gospel" - 2:15
  3. "Smiley Faces" (Instrumental) - 3:10

Charts

The song entered the UK Official Download Chart on 3 May 2006 at number 152. It reached its peak at number 12 on July 9, 2006.[2][3] It then entered the UK Singles Chart on July 16, 2006 at number 23 based on download sales alone, climbing to number 10 after the physical release was available.[4]

Chart (2006) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[5] 38
Germany (GfK)[6] 32
Ireland (IRMA)[7] 9
Slovakia (Rádio Top 100)[8] 81
UK Singles (OCC)[9] 10

References

  1. ^ Paolo Peverini (2010). Keazor, Henry; Wübbena, Thorsten (eds.). Rewind, Play, Fast Forward: The Past, Present and Future of the Music Video. Transaction Publishers. p. 146. ISBN 9783837611854. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  2. ^ "The Official UK Top 200 Downloads", Yahoo!. URL last accessed on 2006-07-03.
  3. ^ "The Official UK Download Chart" BBC. URL last accessed on 2006-08-18
  4. ^ "The Official UK Singles Chart" BBC. URL last accessed on 2006-07-30
  5. ^ "Gnarls Barkley – Smiley Faces". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  6. ^ "Gnarls Barkley – Smiley Faces" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
  7. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Smiley Faces". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  8. ^ "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 200636 into search.
  9. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
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