| Can't Smile Without You | |
| Cover: | David martin can't smile without you.jpg |
| Alt: | Martin (left), and Debbie (right), whom the song was written and inspired by. |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | David Martin |
| B-Side: | Magic Roundabout |
| Released: | 25 July 1975 |
| Genre: | Pop, soft rock |
| Length: | 3:35 |
| Label: | DJM |
| Producer: | Chris Arnold, Geoff Morrow |
| Prev Title: | There's Still Time |
| Prev Year: | 1970 |
| Next Title: | I'm Just Mad About You Jean |
| Next Year: | 1975 |
"Can't Smile Without You" is a song written by Christian Arnold, David Martin and Geoff Morrow, and recorded by various artists including Barry Manilow and the Carpenters. It was first recorded and released by David Martin as a solo single in 1975. The version recorded by Manilow in 1977 and released in 1978 is the most well-known.[1]
The song was inspired by and written by Martin about a woman named Debbie, who appears on the cover alongside Martin.
| Can't Smile Without You | |
| Cover: | Carpenters can't smile without you.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Carpenters |
| Album: | A Kind of Hush |
| A-Side: | Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft |
| Released: | 9 September 1977 |
| Recorded: | 1976 |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Length: | 3:25 |
| Label: | A&M |
| Producer: | Karen and Richard Carpenter |
| Prev Title: | All You Get from Love Is a Love Song |
| Prev Year: | 1977 |
| Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft | |
| Title2: | Can't Smile Without You |
| Next Title: | The Christmas Song |
| Next Year: | 1977 |
The song was recorded in 1976 by the Carpenters and released on their May 1976 album, A Kind of Hush. It was also the B-side track for their 1977 single, "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft", released in support of their 1977 album, Passage.
| Can't Smile Without You | |
| Cover: | Can't_Smile_Without_You_-_Barry_Manilow.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Barry Manilow |
| Album: | Even Now |
| B-Side: | Sunrise |
| Released: | January 1978 |
| Recorded: | 1977 |
| Genre: | Pop, soft rock |
| Length: | 3:13 |
| Label: | Arista |
| Producer: | Barry Manilow, Ron Dante |
| Prev Title: | Daybreak |
| Prev Year: | 1977 |
| Next Title: | Even Now |
| Next Year: | 1978 |
"Can't Smile Without You" was recorded by Manilow in 1977 and released on his 1978 album, Even Now. Manilow also issued the song as a single in 1978 where it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[2]
Manilow's version has slightly different lyrics from the Carpenters' version such as the Carpenters's line "I can't laugh and I can't walk/I'm finding it hard even to talk" which was changed in Manilow's version to "I can't laugh and I can't sing/I'm finding it hard to do anything". The Carpenters remixed the song with additional orchestration for the B-side of the 1977 "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" single, revising the lyrics to read "I can't laugh and I can't sleep/I don't even talk to people I meet".
Billboard said that Manilow's version starts "sweetly with a soft whistle" and builds in intensity over the course of the song, similar to other of Manilow's popular songs.[3] Record World said that it "moves at a moderate, catchy tempo with a lost-love lyric of the sort that has swelled the artist's audience."[4]
A version on Manilow's greatest hits box set, The Complete Collection and Then Some..., contains a slightly different version to the previously released version.
During live performances, Barry Manilow will pull a girl out of the audience to sing the song as a duet with him.
The Barry Manilow version is closely associated with the English Premier League Football club Tottenham Hotspur. The song first became associated with the club in the late 1970s, having reportedly been played on the team coach on away trips during that era. The song is played before home matches at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and at the club's previous home White Hart Lane.[5]
| Chart (1978) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | ||
| New Zealand[6] | 8 | |
| South Africa (Springbok)[7] | 13 | |
| UK | 43 | |
| US Billboard Hot 100[8] | 3 | |
| US Billboard Adult Contemporary | 1 | |
| US Cash Box Top 100[9] | 2 |
| Chart (1978) | Rank | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[10] | 28 | |
| Canada[11] | 20 | |
| US Billboard Hot 100[12] | 27 | |
| US Cash Box[13] | 13 |
On behalf of the songwriters, publishing company Dick James Music sued George Michael for plagiarism in the mid-1980s claiming that the 1984 Wham! single, "Last Christmas", lifted its melody from "Can't Smile Without You". The case was reportedly dismissed when a musicologist presented 60-odd songs from the past century that had a comparable chord sequence and melody.[14]
In the film Unconditional Love (2002), the "Crossbow Killer" whistles the opening of "Can't Smile Without You," which is followed by Kathy Bates, Rupert Everett, Meredith Eaton, and Jonathan Pryce singing the song. Later in the film, Manilow joins Bates and other cast members in singing a reprise of the song.[15] The Manilow version of "Can't Smile Without You" also appears in Starsky & Hutch (2004) and Hellboy: The Golden Army (2008).[16] [17]
