A couple of weeks ago at the Four Seasons with bassist Robert Campbell, a couple came up and requested A Wink and a Smile, the tune sung by Harry Connick, Jr. in the movie Sleepless in Seattle.  (I assumed at first he wrote it because of the media’s annoying habit of attributing, through the use of the preposition by, a song’s composition to the recording artist.  As a result people come up and say, “Can you play I Get a Kick Out of You by Frank Sinatra?”  Well, no.  I also object to the use of the term “artist” for singer or player, in fact for pretty much anyone who is not dead, but I digress.)

In any case, A Wink and a Smile, for the record, was written by Marc Shaiman and Ramsey McLean, words and music respectively.  It’s a cute song, but I had completely forgotten about it and it was a pleasure to have it recalled.  Since then, I couldn’t get it out of my head and so I thought, as a sort of purge, I’d do it as a weekly tune.

  I downloaded the Connick recording and, as a challenge to myself, tried to copy it as faithfully as I could.  This was technically challenging – trying to learn how to better manipulate my recording program – but also musically interesting.  Like a painter trying to copy a master, you’re forced to attend to the details.  Ah, here’s the trombone popping in again, and well, there the strings are doubling the horns, etc.

  I didn’t get the notes and voicings perfect by any means.  The mosaic-like quality of putting this together makes it hard to get a good swing going and then, there’s my singing.  But it was fun and instructive to try it.

  It is, as the lyrics admit,  “a simple song”, but it’s catchy and what catches you right away is the first chord change, from C major to A flat 7: bluesy like an F7 but different!  Click above to hear it.  The lyrics are below.

 I remember the days

Of just keeping time

Of hanging around in sleepy towns forever

Back roads empty for miles.

Well you can’t have a dream

And cut it to fit

But when I saw you I knew

We go together

Like a wink and a smile.

Bridge:

Leave your old jalopy

By the railroad track.

We’ll get hip, double-dip tip-toppy

Two seat Pontiac.

So you can rev her up

Don’t go slow

Only green lights and all right,

Let’s go together

Like a wink and a smile.

Now my heart is music

Such a simple song

Singing again, the notes never end

This is where I belong.

Just the sound of your voice

The light in your eyes

You’re so far away from yesterday

Together, with a wink and a smile

We go together, like a wink and a smile.