"Make Me Smile" is a song written by

James Pankow James Carter Pankow is an American trombone player, songwriter and brass instrument player, best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. Early life, family and education Born in St. Louis, Missouri of German and Irish descent, Pa ...

for the rock band

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

with the band's guitarist,

Terry Kath Terry Alan Kath (January 31, 1946 – January 23, 1978) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He played guitar and sang lead vocals on many of the band's early hit singl ...

, on lead vocals. Part 1 of Pankow's 7-part "

Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" (sic), also known as "The Ballet" and "Make Me Smile Medley", is a nearly thirteen-minute mini-rock opera/song cycle/suite from Chicago's 1970 album ''Chicago'' (also called ''Chicago II''). It was the group's first ...

song cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice ...

/suite, it was recorded for their second album, ''

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

'' (often called ''Chicago II''), which was released in 1970. The song "Now More Than Ever", a separate track from the same song suite, serves as a

reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repe ...

of the song and appears edited together with it on many later versions, including a single edit, on several greatest hits collections, and in many live performances.

Background

A radio-friendly edit of "Make Me Smile" was released as a single in March 1970, becoming the band's first Top 10 record, peaking at number nine on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Pulled from the first movement of the "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" suite, several changes were made in order to make the song more suitable for radio. This included a modified introduction and abbreviated guitar solo. Finally, the track "Now More Than Ever" was appended on the end to make a complete, 3-verse song. When Chicago released their compilation album '' The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning'' in 2002, they featured a ''new'' edit of the song, with the "Make Me Smile" and "Now More Than Ever" parts segued together again, but without the numerous cuts—the full intro and the guitar solo of the former part, and the full outro of the latter part, were thus included. "Make Me Smile" was the group's breakthrough hit, in that its success triggered renewed interest in the group's two prior releases from 1969 which had previously failed to reach the U.S. Top 40. " Questions 67 and 68" had reached #71 that year, but on re-release in 1971 reached #24. And "

Beginnings Beginnings may refer to: Literature * ''Beginnings'' (collection), a 1988 collection of short stories and poems by Gordon R. Dickson * ''Beginnings'' (Honorverse), a 2013 collection of short stories in the Worlds of Honor series * ''Beginnings ...

" had failed to chart in 1969, but on re-release in 1971 reached number seven on the Pop chart and #1 on the

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

chart. Since the death of Terry Kath in 1978, the vocals for live performances of "Make Me Smile" were handled by

Bill Champlin William Bradford Champlin (born May 21, 1947) is an American singer, musician, arranger, producer, and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the band Chicago from 1981–2009. ...

, who joined the band for the recording of ''

Chicago 16 ''Chicago 16'' is the thirteenth studio album by the American band Chicago, released on June 7, 1982. It is considered their "comeback" album because it was their first album to go platinum since 1978's '' Hot Streets.'' It made it into the ''B ...

'', until he departed the group in August 2009. On shows that Champlin did not attend,

Robert Lamm Robert William Lamm (born October 13, 1944) is an American keyboardist, guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He wrote many of the band's biggest hits, including " Questions 67 & 68", "Does ...

sang the lead vocal again in 2022 to onwards. Champlin's replacement

Lou Pardini Lou Pardini (born June 5, 1952) is an American Grammy-nominated keyboardist, songwriter and vocalist who is now best known as a former member of the rock band Chicago. He is known for his work with notable musicians such as Stevie Wonder, Santana ...

took over the singing of "Make Me Smile" until his departure in 2022, when keyboardist Loren Gold sang the song since 2022 alongside his substitute Rob Arthur.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

- lead vocals, fuzzed

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

Peter Cetera Peter Paul Cetera ( ; born September 13, 1944) is an American retired musician best known for being a lead vocalist and the bassist of the rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985, before launching a successful solo career. His ...

- bass, backing vocals *

Danny Seraphine Daniel Peter Seraphine (born August 28, 1948) is an American drummer, record producer, theatrical producer and film producer. He is best known as the original drummer and a founding member of the rock band Chicago, a tenure which lasted fr ...

- drums,

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

maraca A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas (from Guaraní ), also known as tamaracas, were ...

s * Jimmy Pankow -

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

Lee Loughnane Lee David Loughnane (pronounced LOCK-nain; born October 21, 1946) is an American trumpeter, flugelhorn player, vocalist, and songwriter, best known for being a founding member of the rock band Chicago. Early life and education Lee David Loughna ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

* Walt Parazaider -

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

In popular culture

"Make Me Smile" was made available for download on October 23, 2012 for ''

Rock Band 3 ''Rock Band 3'' is a 2010 music video game developed by Harmonix. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, in late October 2010. Mad Catz took over both roles and re-released the title on N ...

'' Basic and PRO mode for use with real guitar/bass guitar, and MIDI-compatible electronic drum kits/keyboards, but as its new edit from '' The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning''.

References

External links

* 1970 singles Chicago (band) songs Songs written by James Pankow Song recordings produced by James William Guercio Columbia Records singles {{1970s-rock-song-stub