Today’s release was a very satisfying undertaking because, as a good friend once remarked, we’re “killing birds.” We’re taking a break from our original music release campaign to bring you a collaboration between myself and the multi-talented Miss. Brianna April, with whom I had a ball covering Smokey Robinson’s “Track of my Tears.”
Tracks of my Tears was the song to do right now for the following reasons.
- My dear sister and patron, Lisa, requested a Motown cover.
- Brianna April’s INCREDIBLE vocal flexibility demands space to move, and this song, like a lot of Motown, is great for that.
- It’s just an all-around excellent song!
#killingbirds
(…For those of you who may be unsure, #killingbirds refers to the saying “kill two birds with one stone,” meaning to achieve two aims at once.)
Anyway!
“Tracks of My Tears” was on a Motown mixtape that my sister and I grew up with. Though my sister didn’t specify, I knew I wanted to do one of the songs from that mixtape in a nod to our shared musical influences. Though I hadn’t thought about it much before, it’s the poignant honesty of the lyrics of Motown that I most identify with. Few of us couldn’t identify with these lyrics:
Outside I’m masquerading
Inside my hope is fading
Just a clown since you put me down
My smile is my make up
I wear since my break up with you
So take a good look at my face
You’ll see my smile looks out of place
If you look closer, it’s easy to trace
The tracks of my tears
And who among us hasn’t pulled something similar to this?
Since you left me if you see me with another girl
Seeming like I’m having fun
Although she may be cute
She’s just a substitute
Because you’re the permanent one
Like a good comedian can make an observation that is hilarious because it’s true and would otherwise go unarticulated, a good songwriter can make an observation that is poignant for the same reason. Motown was great for this.
Please enjoy the track, as well as the bloopers which were requested by my sister and which I was prepared to fake in the event that I didn’t make any natural bloopers…faking was not necessary.
Special thanks for Lisa Cocco for the request, and to Brianna April for performing!