The Undisputed Truth

Poor smiling face.

You got left out of last weekend's smiling faces fest because nobody has bothered to deck your window out with red paint.

But as a consolation prize, you can help me reveal the answer to the trivia question embedded in that blog post:

"Who made the song "Smiling Faces Sometimes" a hit?"

In asking that question I was, of course, confronted with the fact that a lot of my readers are too young to remember that song. Never mind. If you had your transistor radio turned on every night in your room in 1971, you know it. So I'm talking to you. Can you dig it?

Originally recorded by The Temptations, the song became a number 3 pop chart hit in 1971 re-recorded by the little-known "psychadelic soul" act "The Undisputed Truth."

Despite the veracity of their name, The Undisputed Truth never made it back into the Top 4O. In a strange twist of fate, they were the ones who first recorded "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" in 1972. Their recording of the song hit a modest #62, but it was re-recorded shortly thereafter by guess who: The Temptations. That version reached number one on the pop charts and is considered an all-time soul music classic.

One of my commenters mentioned that "Smiling Faces Sometimes" used to scare her when she was a kid. She may get scared even now if she watches this: