Smithers-Jones is a song written by Bruce Foxton

Bruce Foxton

Bruce Foxton is an English rock and roll musician who is best known as the bass player in punk rock bands The Jam and Stiff Little Fingers.-Biography:...

 for recording with his fellow bandmates in The Jam

The Jam

The Jam were an English punk rock/New Wave/mod revival band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were formed in Woking, Surrey. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries, The Jam wore smartly tailored suits rather than ripped...

.

Smithers-Jones differs from the majority of tracks by The Jam in that it was not written by guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 vocalist Paul Weller

Paul Weller

Paul Weller is an English singer-songwriter. Starting with the band The Jam , Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council...

. "Smithers-Jones" was originally recorded as a straightforward rock take for the B-side of the non-album single "When You're Young

When You're Young

"When You're Young" was released as a one-off single by The Jam. Released on 25 August 1979, it charted at number 17 in the UK Singles Chart. The B-side, "Smithers-Jones", is widely considered to be Jam bassist Bruce Foxton's finest song-writing moment and also appears - with an orchestral...

". The track was strikingly reworked with strings for the Setting Sons

Setting Sons

Setting Sons is the fourth studio album by British band The Jam. The group's critical and commercial favour, begun with their third album, All Mod Cons, continued through this album...

album. "When You're Young" was released months before the album's release.

Smithers-Jones is widely considered Foxton's finest songwriting three minutes. The Setting Sons recording is redone in an all-strings arrangement, save a bit of electric guitar in the coda. According to the liner notes of the Direction Reaction Creation

Direction Reaction Creation

Direction Reaction Creation is an anthology released by the British punk rock band, The Jam, in 1997. It includes 117 tracks over 5 discs, including all of the songs from their singles and six studio albums. Songs marked with * indicate a Paul Weller solo recording.The box set reached #8 in the UK...

box set, the revamping of "Smithers-Jones" was suggested by drummer Rick Buckler

Rick Buckler

Rick Buckler , is the former drummer of The Jam, an English rock band that enjoyed considerable success in the United Kingdom from 1977 until disbanding in 1982...

.

Stiff Little Fingers

Stiff Little Fingers

Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977, at the height of the Troubles. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star , doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They split up after six years and four albums, although they...

regularly performed the song live after Foxton joined.