Chords for Smokey Robinson Tells Story of "The Tears of a Clown"
Tempo:
70.25 bpm
Chords used:
B
F#
Fm
A
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[F#] Tears of a Clown, which is one of the biggest songs and the biggest records that I've ever
been associated with as a record artist.
We used to have social gatherings.
We had Christmas parties every Christmas and [Fm]
[B] like I said, all of the artists at Motown
[A] were very, very, very close.
One of my closest brothers is Stevie Wonder.
I love Stevie [B] Wonder, okay?
And so Stevie came to me at a Christmas party.
He said, Smoke, man, I got this track, man, that I've recorded here.
And he said, it's a great track, but I can't think of a song to go with this track, man.
He said, listen to this for me and see if you can come up with a song for it.
So I said, okay.
So I took the track and I took it home and I listened to it.
And when I first heard the track, the track that he gave me that night was complete.
It's the one that's on the record.
He had already recorded the track and did the music and all that.
And so the first thing I hear is,
Bum, bum, bum, ba da dum dum dum dum.
So that's the circus.
That's Barnum and Bailey.
That's Ringling Brothers.
So now what can I write about the circus
that is gonna touch people's hearts?
Can't write about the animals,
because I mean, people love animals,
but what's that got to do with touching people's hearts
unless I write something tragic about an animal or something.
But then I contemplated for a couple of days.
And when I was a kid, I heard a story about Pagliacci.
Pagliacci was an Italian clown who was so great
until people came to the circus to basically see him.
The lions and the tigers and the elephants
and the trapeze and the people like that, that was all fine.
But they basically came to see Pagliacci because he made them happy.
He did stuff that made them happy and he was the greatest clown
and everybody loved him.
And then he went back to his dressing room
and he was very sad because he had all this love,
but he did not have the love of a woman.
He wanted a woman to love him like these people
and he didn't have that.
So that's what I'm gonna write about,
but I'm gonna personalize it.
So that's what Tears of a Clown is about.
Pagliacci was the inspiration for that song
and the inspiration for me was the music.
Bum, bum, bum, ba-da-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum.
Where'd I get the music from?
From Stevie Wonder, who was one of the most prolific,
incredible, I mean Stevie Wonder, come on man.
We talking Stevie Wonder.
We talking everything from gospel and blues to jazz
and everything in between.
We talking Stevie Wonder.
been associated with as a record artist.
We used to have social gatherings.
We had Christmas parties every Christmas and [Fm]
[B] like I said, all of the artists at Motown
[A] were very, very, very close.
One of my closest brothers is Stevie Wonder.
I love Stevie [B] Wonder, okay?
And so Stevie came to me at a Christmas party.
He said, Smoke, man, I got this track, man, that I've recorded here.
And he said, it's a great track, but I can't think of a song to go with this track, man.
He said, listen to this for me and see if you can come up with a song for it.
So I said, okay.
So I took the track and I took it home and I listened to it.
And when I first heard the track, the track that he gave me that night was complete.
It's the one that's on the record.
He had already recorded the track and did the music and all that.
And so the first thing I hear is,
Bum, bum, bum, ba da dum dum dum dum.
So that's the circus.
That's Barnum and Bailey.
That's Ringling Brothers.
So now what can I write about the circus
that is gonna touch people's hearts?
Can't write about the animals,
because I mean, people love animals,
but what's that got to do with touching people's hearts
unless I write something tragic about an animal or something.
But then I contemplated for a couple of days.
And when I was a kid, I heard a story about Pagliacci.
Pagliacci was an Italian clown who was so great
until people came to the circus to basically see him.
The lions and the tigers and the elephants
and the trapeze and the people like that, that was all fine.
But they basically came to see Pagliacci because he made them happy.
He did stuff that made them happy and he was the greatest clown
and everybody loved him.
And then he went back to his dressing room
and he was very sad because he had all this love,
but he did not have the love of a woman.
He wanted a woman to love him like these people
and he didn't have that.
So that's what I'm gonna write about,
but I'm gonna personalize it.
So that's what Tears of a Clown is about.
Pagliacci was the inspiration for that song
and the inspiration for me was the music.
Bum, bum, bum, ba-da-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum.
Where'd I get the music from?
From Stevie Wonder, who was one of the most prolific,
incredible, I mean Stevie Wonder, come on man.
We talking Stevie Wonder.
We talking everything from gospel and blues to jazz
and everything in between.
We talking Stevie Wonder.
Key:
B
F#
Fm
A
B
F#
Fm
A
[F#] _ _ _ Tears of a Clown, which is one of the biggest songs and the biggest records that I've ever
been associated with as a record artist.
We used to have social gatherings.
We had Christmas parties every Christmas and [Fm]
[B] like I said, all of the artists at Motown
[A] were very, very, very close.
One of my closest brothers is Stevie Wonder.
I love Stevie [B] Wonder, okay?
And so Stevie came to me at a Christmas party.
He said, Smoke, man, I got this track, man, that I've recorded here.
And he said, it's a great track, but I can't think of a song to go with this track, man.
He said, listen to this for me and see if you can come up with a song for it.
So I said, okay.
So I took the track and I took it home and I listened to it.
And when I first heard the track, the track that he gave me that night was complete.
It's the one that's on the record.
He had already recorded the track and did the music and all that.
And so the first thing I hear is,
Bum, bum, bum, ba da dum dum dum dum.
So that's the circus.
That's Barnum and Bailey.
That's Ringling Brothers.
So now what can I write about the circus
that is gonna touch people's hearts?
_ Can't write about the animals,
because I mean, people love animals,
but what's that got to do with touching people's hearts
unless I write something tragic about an animal or something.
But then I contemplated for a couple of days.
And when I was a kid, I heard a story about Pagliacci.
Pagliacci was an Italian clown _ who was so great
until people came to the circus to basically see him.
The lions and the tigers and the elephants
and the trapeze and the people like that, that was all fine.
But they basically came to see Pagliacci because he made them happy.
He did stuff that made them happy and he was the greatest clown
_ and everybody loved him. _
And then he went back to his dressing room
and he was very sad because he had all this love,
but he did not have the love of a woman.
He wanted a woman to love him like these people
and he didn't have that.
So that's what I'm gonna write about,
but I'm gonna personalize it.
So that's what Tears of a Clown is about.
_ _ Pagliacci was the inspiration for that song
and the inspiration for me was the music.
Bum, bum, bum, ba-da-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum.
Where'd I get the music from?
From Stevie Wonder, who was one of the most prolific,
incredible, I mean Stevie Wonder, come on man.
We talking Stevie Wonder.
We talking everything from gospel and blues to jazz
and everything in between.
We talking Stevie Wonder.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
been associated with as a record artist.
We used to have social gatherings.
We had Christmas parties every Christmas and [Fm]
[B] like I said, all of the artists at Motown
[A] were very, very, very close.
One of my closest brothers is Stevie Wonder.
I love Stevie [B] Wonder, okay?
And so Stevie came to me at a Christmas party.
He said, Smoke, man, I got this track, man, that I've recorded here.
And he said, it's a great track, but I can't think of a song to go with this track, man.
He said, listen to this for me and see if you can come up with a song for it.
So I said, okay.
So I took the track and I took it home and I listened to it.
And when I first heard the track, the track that he gave me that night was complete.
It's the one that's on the record.
He had already recorded the track and did the music and all that.
And so the first thing I hear is,
Bum, bum, bum, ba da dum dum dum dum.
So that's the circus.
That's Barnum and Bailey.
That's Ringling Brothers.
So now what can I write about the circus
that is gonna touch people's hearts?
_ Can't write about the animals,
because I mean, people love animals,
but what's that got to do with touching people's hearts
unless I write something tragic about an animal or something.
But then I contemplated for a couple of days.
And when I was a kid, I heard a story about Pagliacci.
Pagliacci was an Italian clown _ who was so great
until people came to the circus to basically see him.
The lions and the tigers and the elephants
and the trapeze and the people like that, that was all fine.
But they basically came to see Pagliacci because he made them happy.
He did stuff that made them happy and he was the greatest clown
_ and everybody loved him. _
And then he went back to his dressing room
and he was very sad because he had all this love,
but he did not have the love of a woman.
He wanted a woman to love him like these people
and he didn't have that.
So that's what I'm gonna write about,
but I'm gonna personalize it.
So that's what Tears of a Clown is about.
_ _ Pagliacci was the inspiration for that song
and the inspiration for me was the music.
Bum, bum, bum, ba-da-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum.
Where'd I get the music from?
From Stevie Wonder, who was one of the most prolific,
incredible, I mean Stevie Wonder, come on man.
We talking Stevie Wonder.
We talking everything from gospel and blues to jazz
and everything in between.
We talking Stevie Wonder.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _