Reception
"Jackie Wilson Said" was released as a single in July 1972 in the US and August 1972 in the UK, with the rare and never again released song, "You've Got the Power" as the B-side. It peaked at number sixty-one on the US Billboard Hot 100. Thomas Ryan wrote in 1996 that the song was "denied its commercial destiny by never gaining entry to the upper echelons of the singles charts, a fact as unacceptable as it is inexplicable."
In reviewing the album for the BBC, James Young describes the song as "soulful and uplifting" and comments that "it's awash with lyrical hooks powered by his increasingly mellifluous voice, and backed with pumping horns and rhythm section. It also showcases his signature utterances and vocalisations, the do-de-de-doos and dang-a-lang-a-langs, which are pure homage to his soul and doo-wop influences."
Robert Christgau wrote in his review of Saint Dominic's Preview, "'Jackie Wilson said it was reet petite,' he shouts for openers, and soon has me believing that 'I'm in heaven when you smile' says as much about the temporal and the eternal as anything in Yeats."
Reviewer Scott Floman states that the song was the best of "four monumental tracks" on the album commenting that, "The joyous 'Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)' starts the album off with three minutes of pop perfection, thereby continuing his recent trend of beginning each album with a great concise upbeat number. This grand horn heavy homage to another great r&b performer is the best of the bunch."
Read more about this topic: Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)