Norma Tanega I Don't Think It Will Hurt If You Smile

Norma Tanega is best-known for her single ‘Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog’ which became an unlikely international hit in 1966. It not only brought her into the spotlight, but to the UK where she toured, appeared on TV and started a long-term relationship with Dusty Springfield.

Tanega would later move to the UK to live with Springfield. Still a musical force she signed to the UK arm of RCA-Victor and in 1971 released a single ‘Nothing Much Is Happening Today’ / ‘Antarctic Rose’ and an album called “I Don’t Think It Will Hurt If You Smile”. Neither sold strongly and splitting up with Springfield, Tanega returned to America.

In recent years original copies of “I Don’t Think It Will Hurt If You Smile” have become highly sought after by collectors of folk and psychedelic folk and change hands for up to £400. The album has, until now, never been reissued on vinyl.

Produced by Don Paul, Tanega worked in the studio with multi-instrumentalist Mike Moran and the results were an amazing confection. ‘Nothing Much Is Happening Today’ might have been an unlikely single but today sounds like an earworm especially when halfway through it sounds like Pink Floyd are backing Tanega. ‘What More In The World Could Anyone Be Looking For’ appears as two version – one lushly arranged and the other presented as simple folk song. Both are winner. ‘A Goodbye Song’ is a small treasure box about losing love. The album is glued together by a number of short intrumentals.

All told “I Don’t Think It Will Hurt If You Smile” is a lost classic.