Story Behind The Song

Heart-Shaped Smile paints a portrait of a poor sot who's probably been listening to too much emo. Our Hero periodically gets visited by a mysterious, beguiling girl who seems more vision-than-substance. To any other eyes she is something akin to a Raggedy-Ann doll (hence the "heart-shaped smile") but to him she is real and quite lovely; she has in fact captured his heart. The twist: in the end, instead of the girl condensing into his reality, on her invitation he "vaporizes" up into hers, where it's presumed they live happily ever after in that "other" world. I have inadvertantly made a strong case for either schizophrenia or the use of hallucinogens. Oh well...I still love the story.

Song Description

Straight-down-the-fairway guitar-driven mid-tempo rocker. A study in contrasts, with the verses in G sounding "dry" and the choruses in a different key sounding very expansive, with lotsa echo. With it's shaky tamborines and the fluttery and backwards eff

Lyrics

Heart-Shaped Smile

I?m taken down with the undertow
a million miles from a friend
strung out and ready to overflow
when will the rain ever end
I stare through the glass as life slides past
then with wondering eyes I awaken
a tie-dye surprise is waiting for me

?and along comes the girl with the heart-shaped smile
I?ve been sending a sign that I love her style, is she onto me?
wave hello to the girl with the heart-shaped smile
in her strawberry world where the colours run wild
come and play with me, come and stay with me
then up and away on a rainbow,
she?s here and gone?

the picture fades like a rare perfume
was I asleep or awake?
now I crash and burn in this empty room
and wait to see if I break
then from out of thin air she appears everywhere
who is it that keeps such a secret
candy-cane-world all to herself?

say hello to the girl with the heart-shaped smile
I?ve been sending a sign that I love her style, is she onto me?
wave hello to the girl with the heart-shaped smile
in her strawberry world where the colours run wild
come and play with me, come and stay with me
then up and away on a rainbow,
she?s here and gone?

(where does she go?
?how would I know?
when will I get it through my head?
she never left, ?cause
she never was here)

four walls the color of indigo
they?re closing in all around
now I?ve lost the light and I sure don?t know
if I will ever be found
but how sweet is this?she invites me with her kiss!
and now that I?m found I remember,
and now that I know, I?m ready to go?

I believe in the girl with the heart-shaped smile
she is real she?s a dream, ain?t no difference to me, real or fantasy
join the world of the girl with the heart-shaped smile
it?s a strawberry world where the colours run wild
now she?s coming for me, come to play with me
then up and away riding rainbows
we are so gone gone gone

wave bye-bye to the two with the heart-shaped smile?


music and lyrics by George Wallace
copyright 2006 Celestial Songs (ASCAP)