The record in context

“A Certain Smile” was written by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster for the 1958 20th Century Fox film of the same name, based on the Françoise Sagan novel. Johnny Mathis — following his small role in Lizzie the year before — was brought in to sing the title song in the film, and his recording was released as a single in 1958, reaching No. 14 on the American pop chart. The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

It was Mathis’s second brush with the Oscars in two years, after “Wild Is the Wind.” Hollywood had figured out what Columbia already knew: if you needed a song sung beautifully, without fuss, there was exactly one call to make.

Listen closely

The song is a wisp — a melody so delicate it barely seems to touch the ground — and Mathis treats it accordingly. This is perhaps the quietest hit single of his career: he sings at something close to a whisper throughout, and the effect is mesmerizing. Listen to the title phrase: “a certain smile” is delivered with such tenderness that the smile itself seems to appear in the room.

The art here is in what he withholds. A lesser singer would build to a big finish; Mathis never does. The song stays small, intimate, almost private — as if he’s singing it to one person rather than to a record-buying public. Notice the breath control in the longer phrases: he sustains the line without any audible effort, the sound simply continuing, like a thought that doesn’t want to end.

There’s a case to be made that this is the purest distillation of the Mathis style: no drama, no climax, just beauty sustained. The Oscar nomination recognized the song, but the recording is what lasts — a reminder that in an era of increasing pop bombast, the bravest thing a singer could do was whisper. Mathis built a sixty-year career on that insight.

Play it after “Wild Is the Wind” and you hear two consecutive film songs, two consecutive Oscar nominations, two completely different emotional temperatures — one elemental, one intimate. Same voice, same year, total command of both.