Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCLXXVIII--Barry Manilow: Can't Smile Without You

My partner hates driving, so whenever we go anywhere, I'm the one behind the wheel.  As such, she has never complained about the music I play when we're driving--no matter the artist or the type of music or how many times I play a certain CD she's never said word one.  Until I played this week's artist's greatest hits--about halfway through she asked how much longer I intended on playing this particular CD, since it was not in any sense a pleasurable listening experience.  Have to admit that outside of this week's song she was correct, and after one listen it went into the CD collection in the basement where it will rest for eternity.

As you might have surmised from the first paragraph, I'm not much of a Barry Manilow fan, but I've often felt that every music artist, should they release enough singles, will eventually have one that I like (note that Led Zeppelin, REO Speedwagon, and Styx have proven the exception to this rule).  Unfortunately, as well, Manilow's biography is about as boring of a Wikipedia entry as I've read here while doing my half-assed research, so I won't put my rabid readers (both of you) through an extended bio.  In fairness to Mr. Manilow, he's sold over 85 million records, sold millions upon millions of tickets for his tours, and had numerous very highly rated television specials through the years so one can safely assume he's handled his career quite nicely without my adoration.  Manilow has also won a Grammy Award and produced several of emaycee fave Bette Midler's  albums.  For his career, Manilow has released 31 studio albums (with one of them hitting #1 and numerous others the top ten), and 57 singles (with three reaching the top of the charts and many others the top ten).  For those wondering, I know that after this week's post my induction into the Coolsville Hall of Fame has been permanently derailed.

Fun Fact:  Manilow has expressed surprise that people consider his music wimpy, which leads me to believe he doesn't know what the word wimpy means....

"Can't Smile Without You" was released as a single by Manilow (the Carpenters released a version in 1977) in 1978 from his album Even Now.  The single hit #3 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 while the album attained the same chart position on the Billboard 200.

Were it not for the movie Four Wedding and a Funeral (in which a very campy acoustic version of "Can't Smile Without You" is performed at the first wedding and made me revisit the song), this post is probably never written.  But after reflection it dawned on me that the song is a nice wimpy ballad, catchy as all hell, and sung with just enough bravado by Manilow to make it worthy enough for the annals of Friday Night Jukebox.  I fully realize that a number of you will scratch your heads and say "What the fuck?" but it is what it is, and I'll see you next week....

Lyric Sheet:  "I can't smile without you/I can't laugh and I can't sing/I'm finding it hard to do anything..."

Enjoy (or not):

Republican = Traitor

Peace,

emaycee