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Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Behind a Painted Smile

1969 song performed by The Isley Brothers

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 27, 2025
Entity authorityQ4880818 ↗
Source-derived summary

"Behind a Painted Smile" is a song written by Ivy Jo Hunter and Beatrice Verdi. It was recorded in 1967 by The Isley Brothers, appearing on the Soul on the Rocks album, and released as a single that reached number five in the UK charts in May 1969.

Chart performance

Cover versions

Dutch singer Mathilde Santing released a cover version of the song in 1982.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Behind a Painted Smile” as 1969 song performed by The Isley Brothers. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1967, 1969, 1982—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1969. The account is most persuasive where Behind, Painted and Smile can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1969 song performed by The Isley Brothers. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 27, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q4880818. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1967, 1969 and 1982.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Behind a Painted Smile”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Behind a Painted Smile primary sources, Behind a Painted Smile archive and Behind research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Behind a Painted Smile”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Behind a Painted Smile” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.