“Smile” — and the art of hiding pain behind grace
- Donnut Moonyap
- Sep 30, 2023
- 3 min read
!!! a small warning before you read: this post touches on grief, death, and bereavement.
“Smile” is a song that quietly walks into your thoughts, and suddenly you’re feeling things you didn’t plan on unpacking today. It’s Michael Jackson, but stripped down to something softer, almost fragile, like he’s reminding you that even the most iconic voices still carry sadness underneath all the spectacle. And somehow, a song literally called Smile doesn’t feel happy in the obvious way–it feels like choosing to keep going anyway.
Smile
Artist: Michael Jackson
Album: HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
Year: 1995
Originally composed as an instrumental theme by Charlie Chaplin for his 1936 film Modern Times, the song later took on new life in 1954 when John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons added lyrics to the melody (Uitti, 2024). It was famously popularized by Nat King Cole, and later, Michael Jackson recorded his own orchestral cover for his album.
It’s interesting how this song has lived through so many versions over time, each one carrying the same melody but different layers of emotion, almost like it keeps collecting meaning as it passes through different hands. That history makes it even more meaningful to me now, especially when I think about how I first encountered it in my own life.
Verse 1
Smile, though your heart is aching
Smile, even though it's breaking
When there are clouds in the sky
You'll get by
This part of the song is a core memory for me because when my Mamang passed away, my Tito Roger asked me to memorize it. He would always sit me in front of the computer after breakfast every day, look up the lyrics, and have me practice it so I could perform it during my Mamang’s burial ceremony.
It really sums up that feeling of moving through grief–still carrying it, but learning how to keep going anyway.
Verse 2
If you smile with your fear and sorrow
Smile, and maybe tomorrow
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile
It carries a different weight now. I understand, as I’ve grown older, why this was the song my Tito Roger chose for me to sing at Mamang’s burial ceremony. Fear and sorrow.. you really just have to keep going through it. You just smile, and then maybe–just maybe–tomorrow you’ll find that life is still worthwhile.
Favorite !
That's the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile
I just love how gut-wrenching this part is. I’m a huge crier–I’ll cry over anything, whether it’s sad, happy, or somewhere in between. But in grief, there really does come a point where, after crying everything out, you have to keep trying to live.. to slowly look for things to live for again.
I know that sounds a bit fakey coming from me–someone who deals with a lot of mental health struggles–but I think that’s exactly why these words matter. I know what it’s like, and I also know how hard it is to be in that situation.. and how hard it is just to try.
Michael Jackson had always said that “Smile” was one of his favorite songs and that Chaplin was one of his biggest inspirations. One thing we had in common—I was also a fan of Charlie Chaplin. Watching Chaplin & Co. was my introduction to him, which turned into me borrowing books about him in our school library, specifically stories about him and Disney, and being eager to go home just to tell my mom everything I learned.
Okay, but now I’m going on a tangent… let’s get back on topic!
I didn’t fully understand everything back then—grief, death, all of it. I just knew the song was sad, and I remember trying my best to get every word right. For my Tito Roger. And for my Mamang.
Looking back now, it’s one of those memories that stays quiet but heavy, like the song is forever tied to that moment—to grief, and to love in a way I didn’t yet have the language for as a child.
But maybe that’s what “Smile” has always been trying to say all along—that even when life hurts deeply, we still somehow find ways to keep carrying love forward.
D.
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