The Tracks of My Tears

The Tracks of My Tears is a single from 1965 of the American soul group Smokey Robinson & The Miracles . The song was the second of four singles from Going to a Go-Go 's most successful album of the group. The other three singles were " Ooo Baby Baby , My Girl Has Gone and Going to a Go-Go .

The Tracks of My Tears was, like almost all the songs by The Miracles, written by lead singer Smokey Robinson, here in collaboration with the group Marv Tarplin andWarren "Pete" Moore . The intro on guitar was invented by Tarplin, the guitarist. Then Robinson and Moore came up with the text, and filled the rest of the music, with the help of Tarplin. The text is about the fact that a man arises tough and full of smiles to uphold his reputation as he cries deep inside actually. This theme returns in the group of more songs, including the only # 1 hit by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Tears of a Clown .

The recording was produced by Smokey Robinson and made ​​Hitsville USA, the recording studio record company Motown in Detroit . The instrumental support is owned by The Funk Brothers, the core group of session musicians of Motown.

The B-side of the single is A Fork in the Road, written by Smokey Robinson and Warren Moore in collaboration with group member Ronald White . Again, this is from the album "Going to a Go-Go". The number was in some places a big regional hit. The Miracles sang the standard during live performances.

Like all the singles from this album was The Tracks Of My Tears a big hit on both the charts and the R & B list. On the Billboard Hot 100 number reached the sixteenth and in the UK the ninth. On the R & B -list earned The Tracks of My Tears second place. In addition to these quotations the number by the magazine was Rolling Stone # 50 the quotation given in the list of 500 best songs of all time. The song came along with two other hits by The Miracles, Going to a Go-Go and You've Really Got a Hold On Me, to stand on the list of 500 songs that formed the Rock 'n' Roll, prepared by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame .

The Tracks Of My Tears was also used in the movie Platoon of Oliver Stone (1986). In 2011-2013 it was to hear the song in the leader of the Dutch television Adultery .

Occupation [ edit ]

 * Lead: Smokey Robinson
 * Background: Ronald White, Warren "Pete" Moore, Bobby Rogers and Claudette Robinson
 * Instrumentation: The Funk Brothers
 * Guitarist: Marv Tarplin
 * Writers: Smokey Robinson, Warren "Pete" Moore and Marv Tarplin
 * Production: Smokey Robinson

[Covers edit ]
Often The Tracks of My Tears retreaded . The version of Linda Ronstadt reached number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100 and did so better than the original version of The Miracles. Other artists such as Gladys Knight & The Pips , Go West , Dolly Parton , Johnny Rivers (in 1967 a # 5 hit in the UK), Aretha Franklin and The Contours had their own version of The Tracks Of My Tears. Billy Bragg took the number and theparody The Tears Of My Tracks on a man who laments that he must sell his record collection.

The B-side A Fork in the Road has been covered by, among others, Rebbie Jackson .