"Moaning Lisa Smile" is a song by English

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Wolf Alice Wolf Alice are a Rock music, rock band from London. Formed in 2010 as an acoustic duo made up of singer Ellie Rowsell and guitarist Joff Oddie, Wolf Alice have also featured bassist Theo Ellis and drummer Joel Amey since 2012. Wolf Alice playe ...

. It was released on 3 April 2014 as a single from their second EP, '' Creature Songs'' (2014). It also appears on the US edition of their debut album, '' My Love Is Cool'' (2015). The song reached number 9 on the

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-play ...

chart and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. The song was re-released as a single in April 2015 in the US, marking their first single release in the US. It was released on vinyl with "Giant Peach" featured as a B-side.

Live performances

The band made their US TV debut on '' Conan'' on 16 June 2015 with a performance of "Moaning Lisa Smile". They also performed the song on ''

The Late Late Show with James Corden ''The Late Late Show with James Corden'' (also known simply as ''Late Late'') is an American late-night talk show that aired on CBS from 2015 to 2023. It is the fourth and final iteration of '' The Late Late Show'', and aired in the United Sta ...

'' on 11 August.

In popular culture

"Moaning Lisa Smile" is featured in an episode of '' The Leftovers''. It also appeared in the promotional trailer of ''

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

s mid-season three premiere, as well as on the soundtrack of the video game '' MLB The Show 16''. In January 2018, the song featured in

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's promotional trailer for '' Baptiste''.

Music video

The music video for "Moaning Lisa Smile" was uploaded to the band's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel on 26 May 2014. It was directed by Ozzie Pullin. Lead singer Ellie Rowsell stated that the song was inspired by their "favorite 8-year-old girl,

Lisa Simpson Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television sitcom series ''The Simpsons''. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa was born as a character in '' The Tracey Ullman Show'' short ...

," further elaborating: "We wanted to create a Lisa-type character and follow her in a pursuit to happiness. Although faced with obstacles in the shape of some nasty bitches, Lisa soon finds the group who make her feel like she belongs."

Track listing

US 7" single

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of "Moaning Lisa Smile". * Catherine Marks – production, mixing * Paul Edouard Laurendeau – engineering * Robin Schmidt – mastering

Charts

References

{{authority control 2015 songs 2015 singles Dirty Hit singles Wolf Alice songs Songs written by Ellie Rowsell