Daryl Hall & John Oates ~ Sara Smile 1975 Soul Purrfection Version
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Here is a super Sunday song"
"Sara Smile" is a fine example of blue eyed soul in the same tradition as The Righteous Brothers. A lovely, languid tribute to Sara Allen whose relationship with Daryl Hall lasted until 2001. It became their breakthough single peaking at #4 on the Hot100, #23 on the Hot Soul Singles Chart and #18 Adult Contemporary.
“It was a song that came completely out of my heart. I’ve said this many times – it was a postcard. It’s short and sweet and to the point,” said Hall."She was there, in the house. I was just writing the song. I don’t think there was a first time that I played it for her. She listened to the evolution of the song,” said Hall.
John Oates stated “When you think about that song, the one thing you have to understand about Daryl and I and our songwriting process is that if one of us kind of had a handle on the idea, the other one would help and kind of function almost like an editor, to help make the song happen.” said Oates. “It could have been as simple as throwing out an arrangement idea or it could have been a 50-50 collaboration or anything in-between. There were no rules involved with any of this stuff.”“Over the years, I’ve always just tacitly acknowledged that it was his song, because it was. But he and I wrote the lyrics together,” said Oates.
“When ‘Sara Smile’ was recorded, it was probably tracked in a half hour at the most. Daryl did all the vocals. In fact, the lead vocal is a live vocal tape. We punched in one word, the first ‘Sara’ before the first chorus because it was flat,” said Barry Rudolph, the engineer on the album. “Daryl is very much a live and immediate artist; he’s not much for punching in lead vocals. Backing vocals are different. But he really was a real-by-feel kind of singer.”
“The first time I heard ‘Sara Smile,’ I thought it was a really neat song. And that’s all I thought about it. But it did definitely belong on this record,” said Bond.“To be honest, everyone kind of thought that ‘Sara’ was a really cool kind of album cut. It was a really nice song and everyone loved working on it,” said Rudolph. “It was a very simple production, a very simple song. Daryl said to me, ‘When we do the backing vocals, I want it to sound like the Dells.’ I said OK. I sort of knew who they were.”
“When I heard the playback the first time of the first take that we’d done of ‘Sara,’ I thought oh, something was happening,” said Bond. “I’m sitting in the control room thinking to myself, oh my God, to me this sounds like a hit record. But everybody kept insisting the hit single was ‘Camellia.’ This was the 1970s. Albums all had concepts – that’s what it was all about. And the concept with ‘Sara’ was that it was like an Al Green song. I wanted it to sound like an old Al Green song from Memphis.
“I cut ‘Camellia’ three different times, with three different sections. I did two different string dates on it. I tried it with two different drummers. I even tried cutting it in different studios to see if I could make it sound like a hit to me and it never did,” said Bond.
Once “The Silver Album” was released, the two singles, “Camellia” and “Alone Too Long,” did OK on the charts, but nothing spectacular. At that time in the music business, according to Oates, artists had to give a single six to eight weeks to see if it would make the charts and get regular radio play.“
By the time those two singles had been released you’re talking about being into this album for more than six months. At that point in our careers, six months was an eternity. We were already getting ready to make a new record,” said Oates.“In their minds, we were going to make another record, and in our minds, we were going to make another record,” said Oates.
But while the duo was touring, a disc jockey on a small R&B radio station in Toledo, Ohio, decided to start playing “Sara Smile” as an album cut – just because he liked the song.“Simple as that. And as soon he began to play it, the phones lit up, people kept calling and asking, ‘Who are these guys, what is this song that you’re playing and where do we get it?’” said Oates.
“The story goes that Tommy Mottola took a second loan out on his house and borrowed a bunch of money and basically got the top 10 stations in the country to play ‘Sara’ in regular rotation for a week. And that put it over the edge,” said Rudolph.
Hall & Oates were touring England when “Sara Smile” broke in the R&B world, becoming a hit on African-American radio. The song then crossed over into mainstream radio and became a pop hit as well.“I will never forget the first time I heard it on the radio,” said Hall. “I was in California. I heard it on the radio amidst all the other songs, and I thought to myself, ‘This doesn’t sound like anything else that’s being played around it.’ It was totally unique and stuck out like a sore thumb – well maybe not a sore thumb – but it stuck out. I have a distinct memory of that. I’m sort of proud of that idea.”
"Sara Smile" is a fine example of blue eyed soul in the same tradition as The Righteous Brothers. A lovely, languid tribute to Sara Allen whose relationship with Daryl Hall lasted until 2001. It became their breakthough single peaking at #4 on the Hot100, #23 on the Hot Soul Singles Chart and #18 Adult Contemporary.
“It was a song that came completely out of my heart. I’ve said this many times – it was a postcard. It’s short and sweet and to the point,” said Hall."She was there, in the house. I was just writing the song. I don’t think there was a first time that I played it for her. She listened to the evolution of the song,” said Hall.
John Oates stated “When you think about that song, the one thing you have to understand about Daryl and I and our songwriting process is that if one of us kind of had a handle on the idea, the other one would help and kind of function almost like an editor, to help make the song happen.” said Oates. “It could have been as simple as throwing out an arrangement idea or it could have been a 50-50 collaboration or anything in-between. There were no rules involved with any of this stuff.”“Over the years, I’ve always just tacitly acknowledged that it was his song, because it was. But he and I wrote the lyrics together,” said Oates.
“When ‘Sara Smile’ was recorded, it was probably tracked in a half hour at the most. Daryl did all the vocals. In fact, the lead vocal is a live vocal tape. We punched in one word, the first ‘Sara’ before the first chorus because it was flat,” said Barry Rudolph, the engineer on the album. “Daryl is very much a live and immediate artist; he’s not much for punching in lead vocals. Backing vocals are different. But he really was a real-by-feel kind of singer.”
“The first time I heard ‘Sara Smile,’ I thought it was a really neat song. And that’s all I thought about it. But it did definitely belong on this record,” said Bond.“To be honest, everyone kind of thought that ‘Sara’ was a really cool kind of album cut. It was a really nice song and everyone loved working on it,” said Rudolph. “It was a very simple production, a very simple song. Daryl said to me, ‘When we do the backing vocals, I want it to sound like the Dells.’ I said OK. I sort of knew who they were.”
“When I heard the playback the first time of the first take that we’d done of ‘Sara,’ I thought oh, something was happening,” said Bond. “I’m sitting in the control room thinking to myself, oh my God, to me this sounds like a hit record. But everybody kept insisting the hit single was ‘Camellia.’ This was the 1970s. Albums all had concepts – that’s what it was all about. And the concept with ‘Sara’ was that it was like an Al Green song. I wanted it to sound like an old Al Green song from Memphis.
“I cut ‘Camellia’ three different times, with three different sections. I did two different string dates on it. I tried it with two different drummers. I even tried cutting it in different studios to see if I could make it sound like a hit to me and it never did,” said Bond.
Once “The Silver Album” was released, the two singles, “Camellia” and “Alone Too Long,” did OK on the charts, but nothing spectacular. At that time in the music business, according to Oates, artists had to give a single six to eight weeks to see if it would make the charts and get regular radio play.“
By the time those two singles had been released you’re talking about being into this album for more than six months. At that point in our careers, six months was an eternity. We were already getting ready to make a new record,” said Oates.“In their minds, we were going to make another record, and in our minds, we were going to make another record,” said Oates.
But while the duo was touring, a disc jockey on a small R&B radio station in Toledo, Ohio, decided to start playing “Sara Smile” as an album cut – just because he liked the song.“Simple as that. And as soon he began to play it, the phones lit up, people kept calling and asking, ‘Who are these guys, what is this song that you’re playing and where do we get it?’” said Oates.
“The story goes that Tommy Mottola took a second loan out on his house and borrowed a bunch of money and basically got the top 10 stations in the country to play ‘Sara’ in regular rotation for a week. And that put it over the edge,” said Rudolph.
Hall & Oates were touring England when “Sara Smile” broke in the R&B world, becoming a hit on African-American radio. The song then crossed over into mainstream radio and became a pop hit as well.“I will never forget the first time I heard it on the radio,” said Hall. “I was in California. I heard it on the radio amidst all the other songs, and I thought to myself, ‘This doesn’t sound like anything else that’s being played around it.’ It was totally unique and stuck out like a sore thumb – well maybe not a sore thumb – but it stuck out. I have a distinct memory of that. I’m sort of proud of that idea.”
