Your Smiling Face (1977) 10/5/20

For once in his troubled life, James Taylor was a happy man. Most people in-the-know thought marrying Carly Simon inspired him to write and record today's “Great Song of the '70s.” Others believed it was the birth of his daughter Sally.

Regardless of who inspired it, “Your Smiling Face” certainly reflected his happy mood!

Music critics were the first to take notice of the cheerful tone. Rolling Stone Magazine called it “unabashedly happy.” Billboard called it “upbeat and infectious.”

And once it hit the airwaves in 1977, fans and radio listeners smiled their way to record stores to buy the single, and “JT,” the album it came on.

“JT,” (which also included his hit “Handy Man”) sold 3.5 million copies, and the single did extremely well: #6 in the US on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Chart and #12 on the Top 40. In Canada, it did even better: #4 on and #11 on the matching charts.

“Your Smiling Face:” a high point for James Taylor, and a “Great Song of the '70s!