"Smile" is a single by guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour, released on 13 June 2006. The song was on the UK charts for 1 week and peaked at 72.

Live

The song was first performed at Gilmour's 2001 and 2002 live shows (and also on the accompanying DVD) where Gilmour introduced it as: "''This is a new one so if you are bootlegging, start your machines now.''" It was eventually recorded at his houseboat studio, the Astoria, for the 2006 album ''

On an Island ''On an Island'' is the third solo studio album by Pink Floyd member David Gilmour. It was released in the UK on 6 March 2006, Gilmour's 60th birthday, and in the US the following day. It was his first solo album in 22 years since '' Abou ...

''. The song is in 3/4 time. During the three nights at the Royal Albert Hall during his On an Island Tour in 2006, empty CD wallets bearing the Smile single cover, and a CD-sticker were left on seats of audience members who would discover them on arrival, each one bearing a unique number. The idea was to download the single from iTunes, burn it to a

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the i ...

, place the CD-shaped sticker onto the burnt CD and keep it in the wallet. "Island Jam" was initially available via Gilmour's website before being made more widely available. An unmastered form of "Smile" can be heard briefly on the BBC2 show ''

Three Men in a Boat ''Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)'',The Penguin edition punctuates the title differently: ''Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog!'' published in 1889, is a humorous account by English writer Jerome K. Jerome of a tw ...

'' which retraced a trip on the River Thames, and visited the houseboat.

Track list

#"Smile" (David Gilmour/

Polly Samson Polly Samson (born 29 April 1962) is an English novelist, lyricist, and journalist. She is married to the musician David Gilmour and has written the lyrics to many of Gilmour's works, both as a solo artist and with the group Pink Floyd. Life an ...

) – 4:03 #"Island Jam" (Gilmour) - 6:33

Personnel

"Smile" *David Gilmour -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

s, vocals,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

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 ...

, slide guitar,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, Hammond organ *

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 ...

* Willie Wilson - drums *

Zbigniew Preisner Zbigniew Preisner (; born 20 May 1955 as Zbigniew Antoni Kowalski) is a Polish film score composer, best known for his work with film director Krzysztof Kieślowski. He is the recipient of the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis as we ...

- orchestration "Island Jam" *David Gilmour - guitar * Guy Pratt - bass guitar *

Ged Lynch Ged Lynch (born 19 July 1968, Blackburn, England) is an English percussionist and composer. Lynch had early commercial success drumming with the Ruthless Rap Assassins. In 1989 he joined The Icicle Works. He joined Shaun Ryder and Bez in Bla ...

- drums *Paul "Wix" Wickens - Hammond organ

References

2006 singles David Gilmour songs Songs written by David Gilmour Song recordings produced by David Gilmour Song recordings produced by Chris Thomas (record producer) {{2000s-single-stub