"Sara Smile" is a song written and recorded by the American musical duo
Hall & Oates
Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The two ...
. It was released as the third single from their album ''
Daryl Hall & John Oates''. The song was the group's first top 40 and first top ten hit in the US, reaching number four on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100.
Release and chart performance
"Sara Smile" first appeared in August 1975 as the second cut on the
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...
album ''
Daryl Hall & John Oates''. The song was performed by Hall & Oates during their September–November 1975 tour in support of the album, with a reviewer noting that listeners who liked "
She's Gone" would also like the softer ballad "Sara Smile". In late 1975, "Sara Smile" was prepared as a 45 rpm 7-inch single release – the third single from the album. It first entered the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on January 31, 1976, at number 91.
Cowritten by both halves of the duo, "Sara Smile" turned out to be Hall & Oates' breakthrough single, reaching a number 4 peak on the Hot 100 at the end of June 1976. It was written about Hall's then-girlfriend, stewardess
Sara Allen
Sara Allen (born March 23, 1954) is an American songwriter best known for her work with the duo Hall & Oates. She was in a long-term relationship with Daryl Hall, which ended in 2001, and contributed to many of the duo's hit singles, including " ...
. The couple were together for almost 30 years before breaking up in 2001.
The song also peaked at No. 23 on the
Hot Soul Singles
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...
chart and No. 18 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, ...
chart. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the No. 11 best-selling song of 1976. On the
R&R Airplay chart, the song debuted at No. 38 on April 2, 1976, and peaked at No. 7 seven weeks later. The single earned a Gold certification from the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
(RIAA).
The album ''Daryl Hall & John Oates'' was moving slowly on ''Billboard'' chart until "Sara Smile" started becoming a hit. The album picked up momentum to hit number 17 on the Billboard 200, peaking simultaneously with "Sara Smile" on June 25, 1976.
Critical reception
Nathan Brackett and Christian Hoard, in the ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' album guide, referred to the song as a "love bead ballad," and Steve Pond of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' cited it as an example of the duo's
R&B influences.
Legacy
Following the success of "Sara Smile," the
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most im ...
label re-released the duo's previous single,
"She's Gone", which had missed the Top 40 chart during 1973–74. In its re-release it rose to number 7 in late October 1976.
The chorus of "Sara Smile" was reworked in 1996 by Northern California rapper
B-Legit
Brandt Jones (born January 13, 1968), better known by his stage name B-Legit, is an American rapper from Vallejo, California.
Early life
Brandt "B-Legit" Jones graduated from General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo Senior High School on June 17, 19 ...
into the song "Ghetto Smile", collaborating with
Daryl Hall
Daryl Franklin Hohl (born October 11, 1946), known professionally as Daryl Hall, is an American rock music, rock, rhythm and blues, R&B and soul music, soul singer and musician, best known as the co-founder and principal lead vocalist of Daryl ...
who recorded new vocals.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Cover versions
After 7 version
R&B group
After 7
After 7 is an American R&B group founded in 1987 by brothers Melvin and Kevon Edmonds, and their friend Keith Mitchell. The Edmonds brothers are the older siblings of pop/R&B singer-songwriter and record producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, wh ...
released a cover version in 1997, on their greatest hits album ''The Very Best of After 7''.
Chart performance
It peaked at number 31 on the ''Billboard''
R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay
R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (previously known as Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay) is a chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the top R&B and hip hop songs in the United States, based on audience impressions from a panel of radio stations monitored ...
charts, number 99 in Australia, and number 130 in the UK.
Jimmy Wayne version
Country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
singer
Jimmy Wayne released a cover version in 2009, with backing vocals from Hall & Oates. This version debuted at #51 on the Hot Country Songs chart dated October 3, 2009 and serves as the title track for Wayne's third album, ''
Sara Smile''. It became Hall & Oates' first single to chart on the country charts.
Critical reception
Sam Gazdziak of Engine 145 gave the song a thumbs-down, saying that it was "almost reverential" to the original and that Wayne's vocals showed R&B influences, but added that it "has no business being played on a country radio station." Bobby Peacock of Roughstock gave a more positive review, also saying that it was well-sung but not country-sounding, but adding that it was a "refreshing change of pace" from the "bombast of ''
Do You Believe Me Now''", Wayne's last album. Thom Jurek described the cover favorably in his review of the album, saying that Wayne "basically apes Hall's lead vocal
��ote for note" but "pulls it off in spades."
Chart performance
Jimmy Wayne's version of "Sara Smile" debuted at number 51 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart in September 2009. After seven weeks on the country chart, the song peaked at 31 in December 2009.
Rumer version
British female singer-songwriter
Rumer released a
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...
on July 30, 2012 as the second single from her second studio album ''
Boys Don't Cry'' (2012). The song has charted in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
Rumer and Daryl Hall perform the song together on
Live From Daryl's House.
Music video
A music video to accompany the release of "Sara Smile" was first released onto YouTube on June 28, 2012 at a total length of three minutes.
Rumer_-_Sara_Smile_[Official_Video
_YouTube.html" ;"title="fficial Video">Rumer - Sara Smile [Official Video
YouTube">fficial Video">Rumer - Sara Smile [Official Video
YouTube
Track listings
Chart performance
Release history
References
External links
* [ Sara Smile] at AllMusic
*
{{Rumer
1970s ballads
1975 songs
1976 singles
1997 singles
2009 singles
2012 singles
Hall & Oates songs
After 7 songs
Jimmy Wayne songs
Rumer (musician) songs
Songs written by Daryl Hall
Songs written by John Oates
Song recordings produced by Dann Huff
Atlantic Records singles
Big Machine Records singles
RCA Records singles
Pony Canyon singles
Virgin Records singles
MNRK Music Group singles
Rock ballads
Soul ballads