"Painted Smile" is a 1981 song by the English progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 band The Moody Blues

The Moody Blues

The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....

, first appearing on their 1981 album Long Distance Voyager

Long Distance Voyager

Long Distance Voyager is the tenth album by the British rock band The Moody Blues, first released in May 1981. on the group's Threshold record label...

. It was later released on the B-Side of "Gemini Dream

Gemini Dream

"Gemini Dream" is a 1981 single by the progressive rock band The Moody Blues. It reached #12 in the U.S. charts. It was the first single released from their 1981 album Long Distance Voyager, which also included "Painted Smile," another track from the album, on the B-side...

."

Written by Ray Thomas

Ray Thomas

Ray Thomas is an English musician, best known as the flautist and as a singer and composer in the rock band, The Moody Blues.-Career:...

, "Painted Smile" is the first in a suite of three songs that concludes the album. "Painted Smile" has a circus

Circus

A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...

 theme, and tells the story of a circus jester. Like many of Ray Thomas's earlier songs like "Another Morning

Another Morning (The Moody Blues song)

"Another Morning" is a 1967 song by the symphonic rock band The Moody Blues. It was written by the band's flautist Ray Thomas, and was first released on the 1967 album Days of Future Passed...

" and "Floating

Floating (The Moody Blues song)

"Floating" is a song on The Moody Blues' November 1969 album To Our Children's Children's Children, a concept album about space travel dedicated to NASA and the Apollo 11 astronauts. Written by band flautist Ray Thomas, "Floating" is a jaunty, semi-children's song about a future in which advances...

", "Painted Smile" has a "child's world" theme in the sense that it tells the story in the perspective of a child.

After "Painted Smile," the suite continues into "Reflective Smile," which is a short spoken-word poem connecting the storylines from "Painted Smile" and "Veteran Cosmic Rocker

Veteran Cosmic Rocker

"Veteran Cosmic Rocker" is a 1981 song by the progressive rock band The Moody Blues. It was written by the band's flautist Ray Thomas. "Veteran Cosmic Rocker" first appeared as the final track of The Moody Blues 1981 album Long Distance Voyager, and was later released in November 1981 on the...

." In the past, The Moody Blues had used spoken-word poetry on their albums which were usually written by drummer Graeme Edge

Graeme Edge

Graeme Charles Edge is best known as the drummer and a songwriter for the Moody Blues, but has also led his own outfit, the Graeme Edge Band.-Biography:...

, and were generally recited by either Edge himself or former keyboardist Mike Pinder

Mike Pinder

Michael Thomas "Mike" Pinder is an English rock musician, and is a founding member or the British rock group, the Moody Blues. He left the group following the recording of the band's album, Octave, in 1978...

. "Reflective Smile" is the only Moody Blues poem to have been written and recited by Ray Thomas

Ray Thomas

Ray Thomas is an English musician, best known as the flautist and as a singer and composer in the rock band, The Moody Blues.-Career:...

.