About The Song
“Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile” is a song written by Johnny Cunningham and recorded by David Allan Coe. It was the first single from Coe’s 1984 album Just Divorced, and was released to radio in early 1984. The song is Coe’s highest-charting single, with a peak of number two on the U.S. country music charts.
The song is a mid-tempo ballad about a young blonde girl, featuring allusions to the iconic Da Vinci painting.
Thom Jurek of Allmusic described the song favorably in his review, saying that “the layered strings and organ work are slick, but they add such warmth and depth in contrast to Coe’s voice that it works to devastating effect.”
The song spent twenty-two weeks on the Billboard country singles charts, reaching a peak of number two and accounting for Coe’s highest peak there. In Canada, it reached Number One on the RPM Country Tracks charts dated for June 30, 1984.
Video
Lyrics
Mona Lisa lost her smile
The painter’s hands are trembling now
And if she’s out there running wild
It’s just because I taught her how
The masterpiece that we had planned
Is laying shattered on the ground
Mona Lisa lost her smile
And the painter’s hands are trembling now
And the eyes that used to burn for me
Now they no longer look my way
And the love that used to be
Why it just got lost in yesterday?
And if she seems cold to the touch
Well, there used to burn a flame
I gave too little, took too much
‘Til I erased the painter’s name
Mona Lisa lost her smile
The painter’s hands are trembling now
And if she’s out there running wild
It’s just because I taught her how
The masterpiece that we had planned
Is laying shattered on the ground
Mona Lisa lost her smile
And the painter’s hands are trembling now
Mona Lisa lost her smile
And the painter’s hands are trembling now
And if she’s out there running wild
It’s just because I taught her how
And the masterpiece that we had planned
It’s laying there shattered on the ground
Mona Lisa lost her smile
And the painter’s hands are trembling now