Smooth Operator

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"Smooth Operator" is a popular song by the English group Sade released as the fourth and final single from their debut album, Diamond Life (1984). It was released (in both the U.S. and the UK) as a 7" single with "Spirit" as the B-side and as a 12" single with "Smooth Operator" and "Red Eye" on side A and "Spirit" on side B.

This was Sade's first top ten hit in the U.S., peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks in May of 1985. The song spent 13 weeks in the Top 40 and also topped the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart for two weeks. Although "Smooth Operator" was Sade's breakthrough hit on the American music charts, "Your Love Is King" was the band's first top ten hit in the UK.

The song is about a fashionable man who lives a jet-set lifestyle. He's very popular with the ladies, and breaks a lot of hearts in his travels. With the lyrics, "Across the north and south, to Key Largo, love for sale," it's implied that the women he uses also supply his wealth. It's also clear that he does not return the affections of these women, as Sade sings near the end, "His heart is cold."

[edit] Music video

The video for "Smooth Operator", directed by Julian Temple, was nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards for "Best Female Video" and "Best New Artist" in 1985.^[1] The full-length version runs around eight and a half minutes, and shows the entire story of the song.

[edit] Popular culture

"Smooth Operator" was the focus of a segment on Australian comedy variety show Micallef Tonight in 2003. The lyric "Coast to coast / LA to Chicago" was lampooned by Shaun Micallef for its geographical inaccuracy ("good thing she's a smooth operator, not a tour operator").^[2]

[edit] Trivia

Ray St. John, who co-wrote "Smooth Operator" with Sade Adu, was previously a member of Adu's former band Pride, although he was not a member of the band Sade. He later went on to play guitar with the band Halo James, who scored a UK top ten hit with "Could Have Told You So" in January 1990.

[edit] Cover versions

• Filipino bossa nova singer Sitti recorded a cover of the song in 2007 for her second studio album My Bossa Nova.
• Covered by Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaría on his 1987 release Soy Yo (along with another '80s quiet storm hit, Anita Baker's "Sweet Love"). Also featured on his 2000 release Mucho Mambo Mongo.
• Basix recorded the song for their The Grass album.
• It was also covered in a death metal version by Ten Masked Men on their The Ten Masked Men Strike Back EP.
• Señor Coconut Y Su Conjunto covered the song on their 2003 Fiesta Songs album.

[edit] Track listings and formats

British and American 7" single

1. "Smooth Operator"
2. "Spirit"

British 12" single and American 12" promo single

• Side A:

1. "Smooth Operator"
2. "Red Eye"

• Side B:

1. "Spirit"

[edit] Charts

[edit] References