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The Tracks of My Tears started with a descending guitar lick from Miracles guitarist Marv Tarplin, around which Smokey Robinson and bass vocalist Pete Moore built the vocal and lyric. Recorded on May 19, 1965, for Tamla with the Funk Brothers and members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, it paired an upbeat groove with lyrics about hiding heartbreak behind a smile. That tension showed in the trade press: Billboard called it a teen ballad with a pulsating dance beat, while Cash Box called it a slow shufflin’ tearjerker. It became the Miracles’ fourth million-seller in two years.

In Britain, then dominated by the Mersey Beat sound, the 1965 release missed the chart entirely. Reissued in 1969 under the name Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, it reached No. 9 as the Northern Soul scene took hold. Covers carried it across genres, from Aretha Franklin to Linda Ronstadt’s country-crossing 1975 version, and it entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007 and the National Recording Registry in 2008.

• Johnny Rivers took a cover into the top 10 in 1967.
• Aretha Franklin’s 1969 version on Soul ’69 ended up as the B-side of her cover of The Weight.
• Ronstadt’s Peter Asher-produced version reached No. 25 pop and No. 11 country, with an Emmylou Harris duet on the B-side.
• Go West returned the song to the UK top 20 in 1993.
• A Mojo panel including Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson voted it among the top five songs of all time.