The Sunshine of your Smile
I’ve just read that it is Mike Berry’s 80th birthday today. Which is a good enough reason to write on a favourite song of mine.
I love old songs, songs from the day before rhythm triumphed over melody. (Come on! Listen to some Al Bowlly!) “The Sunshine of your Smile” was written in 1913. It’s most famous version (or best version, whichever), is by John McCormack in 1916.
But it’s Mike Berry’s day today. He had a big hit with it in 1980 and my Nin loved it. Which is more than enough reason to play it. Then again, she loved Status Quo’s “Margherita Time,” too. So did I, for that matter.
A song like this seems to strike the same chord in people, reminding them of close relations now gone, who would sing this song, no doubt recalling warm memories of loved ones from long ago, passing them feelings on. Many of the people commenting on the video on You Tube refer to their mums and dads and how they would play or sing the song when they were young.
A great song is a great song, regardless of its age.
Though there may be sadness in the heart at loss and separation, there’s a warmth in the memories it stores. The ache is always there, as is the loving heart, which is undying.
This is a song that reminds me of a time when the people I loved, and whom loved me in turn, were all present and life was as it ought to be. Losing close family members injects an irrevocable sadness into your life. With loss comes the realisation that you will never see them again, speak to them again, share the same old stories with them, make some more stories, and be able to call on them when you need. And yet you always feel as though you will. Every so often, it strikes you that the people you loved and who loved you in turn are no longer around and are never coming back. And you feel the loss all over again. Songs like this keep the memories alive and people long gone present.
I think we all have – or more poignantly had – close family who loved this melody, who would sing it or play it, who loved it so much. It’s so simple, so honest, so innocent, so fresh, standing out in an age of defeat, despair, and cynicism. The sunshine in the smile of a loved one makes you sit up and be thankful you are alive. That you have people in your life who smile and who love you dearly. To all of you reading this I give you this message: value the sunshine of the smile of your loved ones. Beyond all the arguments and controversies, it’s that that really counts in life.
The following lyrics are taken from the sheet music published in 1913:
Verse 1:
Dear face that holds so sweet a smile for me,
Were you not mine, how dark the world would be!
I know no light above that could replace
Love's radiant sunshine in your dear, dear face.
Refrain:
Give me your smile, the love-light in your eyes,
Life could not hold a fairer Paradise!
Give me the right to love you all the while,
My world for ever, the sunshine of your smile!
Verse 2:
Shadows may fall upon the land and sea,
Sunshine from all the world may hidden be;
But I shall see no cloud across the sun;
Your smile shall light my life, till life is done!
Refrain:
Give me your smile, the love-light in your eyes,
Life could not hold a fairer Paradise!
Give me the right to love you all the while,
My world for ever, the sunshine of your smile!
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