"Smiley Faces" is a song by American
soul music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became ...
duo
Gnarls Barkley
Gnarls Barkley are an American soul duo, composed of singer-songwriter CeeLo Green and producer Danger Mouse. They released their debut studio album, ''St. Elsewhere'', in 2006. It contained their hit single "Crazy", which peaked at number two ...
from their debut album, ''
St. Elsewhere'' (2006). It was released July 17, 2006, as the second
single from that album in the United Kingdom and peaked at number 10 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
Music videos
Like the single "Crazy", there are two different music videos for this song.
The
mockumentary
A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary.
These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...
-style
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
for "Smiley Faces", directed by
Robert Hales
Sir Robert Hales ( – 14 June 1381) was Grand Prior of the Knights Hospitaller of England, Lord High Treasurer, and Admiral of the West. He was killed in the Peasants' Revolt.
Career
In 1372 Robert Hales became the Lord/Grand Prior of th ...
shows a music historian (played by
Dennis Hopper) and an A&R executive (played by
Dean Stockwell
Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...
) 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
Cee-lo is a gambling game played with three six-sided dice. There is not one standard set of rules, but there are some constants that hold true to all sets of rules. The name comes from the Chinese ''Sì-Wŭ-Liù'' (四五六), meaning "four-five ...
and producer
Danger Mouse in the background. The effect is similar to that of
Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
editing himself into archival film footage in ''
Zelig
''Zelig'' is a 1983 American mockumentary film written, directed by and starring Woody Allen as Leonard Zelig, a nondescript enigma, who, apparently out of his desire to fit in and be liked, unwittingly takes on the characteristics of strong per ...
''. (Danger Mouse has spoken of Woody Allen's films, and Allen's
auteur
An auteur (; , 'author') is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, which thus manifests the director's unique ...
approach as having an influence on his music.) In September 2007, the video won an
MTV Video Music Award
The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video categor ...
for
Best Editing.
There was another music video made directed by
Marc Klasfeld
Marc Klasfeld is an American music video director. He has directed over two hundred music videos for artists such as Slipknot, Sum 41, Katy Perry, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Britney Spears, Kid Rock, Michael Bublé, Nelly, Foo Fighters, Kelly ...
and animated by Edgar Reyes, featuring an
instant messaging
Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and trigge ...
smiley
A smiley, sometimes referred to as a smiley face, is a basic ideogram that represents a smiling face. Since the 1950s it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram, or as a form of communication, such a ...
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 British music channels before the mockumentary video but was banned due to sexual content and violence.
Track listings
UK CD1
# "Smiley Faces"
# "Smiley Faces" (live on ''
Later with Jools Holland'')
UK CD2
# "Smiley Faces" (radio edit)
# "Go-Go Gadget Gospel"
# "Crazy" (video)
# "Exclusive Microsite"
UK 12-inch vinyl
# "Smiley Faces"
# "Go-Go Gadget Gospel"
# "Smiley Faces" (instrumental)
Chart performance
The song entered the
UK Official Download Chart
The UK Singles Downloads Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the music industry. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday.
The main chart co ...
on May 3, 2006, at number 152. It reached its peak at number 12 on July 9, 2006.
The Official UK Download Chart
''BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
''. URL last accessed on August 18, 2006 It then entered the
on July 16, 2006, at number 23 based on download sales alone, climbing to number 10 after the physical release was available.