Laugh, Laugh
Encyclopedia
"Laugh, Laugh" is a song by American
rock
group The Beau Brummels
, written by guitarist Ron Elliott
and produced by Sylvester Stewart, later known as Sly Stone
. Released in December 1964 as the band's debut single, the song reached number 15 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
chart the following February. "Laugh, Laugh" was the first hit single to come out of the emerging San Francisco music scene in response to the British Invasion
.
The song was later included on the band's first full-length album, Introducing the Beau Brummels
, released in April 1965.
The Beau Brummels promoted the single by appearing on several television shows, including a 1965 episode of The Flintstones
in which the band gave an animated performance as the Beau Brummelstones. In 1994, "Laugh, Laugh" was selected to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll exhibit. Lead singer Sal Valentino
reworked the song for his 2008 solo album, Every Now and Then.
s Tom Donahue
and Bobby Mitchell were looking for new acts to bring to their Autumn Records
label.
They discovered the Beau Brummels performing at the Morocco Room, a club in nearby San Mateo
, and signed the band shortly thereafter.
Donahue and Mitchell were eager to capitalize on Beatlemania
, a phenomenon surrounding The Beatles
that originated several years before in Germany and was spreading across the U.S. by this time.
The Beau Brummels had taken their name from a term used to describe a fop
, an excessively well-dressed person. The group liked that the name sounded British, and knew that following the Beatles so closely in the alphabet would likely result in the bands' records being placed next to each other on record store shelves.
Even the harmonies of "Laugh, Laugh" were reminiscent of popular British acts of the time,
such as the Beatles and The Zombies
.
However, songwriter-guitarist Ron Elliott said the song was directly influenced not by UK bands, but by U.S. pop
group The Four Seasons.
Elliott grew up writing music inspired by theatrical composers such as George Gershwin
and Jerome Kern
, as well as country music
artist Lefty Frizzell
.
After forming the Beau Brummels with lead vocalist
Sal Valentino, Elliott wanted to create simplified music that had mainstream appeal. He noted that "Laugh, Laugh" had a "very complex chord structure, but instead of using the major seventh chords and the passing chords that I prefer, I wrote the song in flat major and minor keys using a simplified tonal structure."
Elliott said he liked using minor keys as he believed they added an element of mystery to the music, similar to that of James Bond films.
Lyrically, "Laugh, Laugh" describes a rejected lover who takes pleasure in revenge when someone rejects the one who had rejected him.
The song was produced by Autumn house producer Sylvester Stewart, who later gained fame as Sly Stone of Sly & the Family Stone
.
Valentino recalled the band's recording sessions with Stone: "He was only about nineteen or twenty when we worked with him. It was before all of his reputation came to be, that everybody knows him for now." Valentino added, "He was a cheerleader. He could play everything if we needed him to. He was great. He was the guy in San Francisco who knew how to make a record in the studio. There was nobody before him."
Elliott agreed, saying Stone was a positive influence on the band because of his talent, intelligence and experience.
The song remained in the top 40 portion of the chart for eight weeks, peaking at number 15 in February.
Donahue believed the single would have peaked at number one if the band was on a label with stronger distribution.
In Canada, the song reached number two on RPM
magazine's singles chart.
As the song climbed the charts, many listeners assumed the Beau Brummels were British, due to the band's name and musical style.
For their part, Donahue and Mitchell spread rumors that the band was indeed from the UK, and had the band dress in Beatlesque suits.
"Laugh, Laugh" was the first hit single from a burgeoning San Francisco music scene—including such bands as Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, We Five, Moby Grape, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Country Joe and the Fish— to respond to the British Invasion.
The song is credited as one of the earliest tracks to blend beat music
with folk rock
, even before The Byrds
recorded "Mr. Tambourine Man
."
Chris Hillman
, who played bass guitar
with the Byrds, saw the Beau Brummels at a Los Angeles concert, and later remarked: "I remember them doing the hit they had, 'Laugh, Laugh.' They really sort of answered the Beatles before we did, in that sense."
However, Byrds singer-guitarist Roger McGuinn
claimed "they had a little trouble singing in tune."
The song was one of 10 pop singles named in a January 1966 issue of Billboard which credited the use of harmonica in folk, pop, and rhythm and blues
(R&B) music for sparking a harmonica sales boom at record retailers in 1964 and 1965.
Music critic Dave Marsh
selected the song for his 1989 book, The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.
William Ruhlmann of Allmusic called it a "pivotal" song with "cleverly arranged harmonies."
On the other hand, Chris Smith of Stylus Magazine
described it as a "mostly colorless, indistinct Beatles rip-off" and "pretty unmemorable."
In 1994, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
's curatorial staff, along with rock critics and historians, selected "Laugh, Laugh" for a Hall of Fame exhibit featuring The 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll."
s of the mid-1960s, including NBC
's Hullabaloo
on February 23, 1965,
ABC
's Shindig!
on March 10, 1965
and American Bandstand
on April 9, 1966.
In September 1965, the Beatles' self-titled animated television series debuted and became an immediate ratings success.
As a result, animation studios moved quickly to incorporate cartoon rock bands into other programs. An early effort by Hanna-Barbera
showcased the Beau Brummels as animated guests on The Flintstones
sitcom
in the season six episode "Shinrock A Go-Go," which originally aired on December 3, 1965.
Appearing as The Beau Brummelstones, the band performed "Laugh, Laugh" on Bedrock
's TV teen dance show, Shinrock—a takeoff of the Shindig! program.
"Laugh, Laugh" was included on 1972's Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968, a compilation double album
of American garage rock
singles that helped influence the development of 1970s punk rock
.
The song also featured in the 1989 John Candy
comedy-drama
film Uncle Buck
.
, a collection of rarities, demos
and outtake
s.
The band's Live!
album, released in 2000, contains a 1974 performance of "Laugh, Laugh" recorded during a concert in Fair Oaks Village near Sacramento, California
.
Sal Valentino revisited the song on his 2008 solo album, Every Now and Then, on which he offers a darker interpretation of the track.
Surf rock group The Astronauts performed a cover version
of "Laugh, Laugh" on their 1967 album, Travelin' Man.
The song was also covered by California garage rock band The E-Types, whose live rendition is part of the Live at the Rainbow Ballroom 1966 album, released in 1998.
Experimental music
ian
R. Stevie Moore
recorded a version of the song on his 1983 album, Crises.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
group The Beau Brummels
The Beau Brummels
The Beau Brummels were an American rock band. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the band's original lineup included Sal Valentino , Ron Elliott , Ron Meagher , Declan Mulligan , and John Petersen...
, written by guitarist Ron Elliott
Ron Elliott (musician)
Ron Elliott on October 21, 1943) is an American musician, composer and producer, best known as songwriter and lead guitarist of rock band The Beau Brummels. Elliott wrote or co-wrote the band's 1965 U.S...
and produced by Sylvester Stewart, later known as Sly Stone
Sly Stone
Sly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...
. Released in December 1964 as the band's debut single, the song reached number 15 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart the following February. "Laugh, Laugh" was the first hit single to come out of the emerging San Francisco music scene in response to the British Invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
.
The song was later included on the band's first full-length album, Introducing the Beau Brummels
Introducing the Beau Brummels
Introducing the Beau Brummels is the debut album by American pop rock band The Beau Brummels. It was produced by Sly Stone, lead singer of Sly & the Family Stone. Unlike most debut albums of the era, ten of the twelve songs on this album are originals. The album peaked at number 24 on the U.S...
, released in April 1965.
The Beau Brummels promoted the single by appearing on several television shows, including a 1965 episode of The Flintstones
The Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
in which the band gave an animated performance as the Beau Brummelstones. In 1994, "Laugh, Laugh" was selected to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll exhibit. Lead singer Sal Valentino
Sal Valentino
Sal Valentino is an American rock musician, singer and songwriter, best known as lead singer of The Beau Brummels, subsequently becoming a songwriter as well. The band released a pair of top 20 U.S...
reworked the song for his 2008 solo album, Every Now and Then.
Background and composition
In 1964, San Francisco disc jockeyDisc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
s Tom Donahue
Tom Donahue
Tom "Big Daddy" Donahue , was a pioneering rock and roll radio disc jockey, record producer and concert promoter....
and Bobby Mitchell were looking for new acts to bring to their Autumn Records
Autumn Records
Autumn Records was a 1960s San Francisco-based pop record label. Its most prominent contract was considered The Beau Brummels, a band who released a pair of top 20 singles, "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just a Little"....
label.
They discovered the Beau Brummels performing at the Morocco Room, a club in nearby San Mateo
San Mateo, California
San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of approximately 100,000 , it is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame to the north, Foster City to the east, Belmont to the south,...
, and signed the band shortly thereafter.
Donahue and Mitchell were eager to capitalize on Beatlemania
Beatlemania
Beatlemania is a term that originated during the 1960s to describe the intense fan frenzy directed toward The Beatles during the early years of their success...
, a phenomenon surrounding The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
that originated several years before in Germany and was spreading across the U.S. by this time.
The Beau Brummels had taken their name from a term used to describe a fop
Fop
Fop became a pejorative term for a foolish man over-concerned with his appearance and clothes in 17th century England. Some of the very many similar alternative terms are: "coxcomb", fribble, "popinjay" , fashion-monger, and "ninny"...
, an excessively well-dressed person. The group liked that the name sounded British, and knew that following the Beatles so closely in the alphabet would likely result in the bands' records being placed next to each other on record store shelves.
Even the harmonies of "Laugh, Laugh" were reminiscent of popular British acts of the time,
such as the Beatles and The Zombies
The Zombies
The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...
.
However, songwriter-guitarist Ron Elliott said the song was directly influenced not by UK bands, but by U.S. pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
group The Four Seasons.
Elliott grew up writing music inspired by theatrical composers such as George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
and Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
, as well as country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
artist Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell , born William Orville Frizzell, was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s, and a proponent of honky tonk music. His relaxed style of singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones and John Fogerty...
.
After forming the Beau Brummels with lead vocalist
Lead vocalist
The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
Sal Valentino, Elliott wanted to create simplified music that had mainstream appeal. He noted that "Laugh, Laugh" had a "very complex chord structure, but instead of using the major seventh chords and the passing chords that I prefer, I wrote the song in flat major and minor keys using a simplified tonal structure."
Elliott said he liked using minor keys as he believed they added an element of mystery to the music, similar to that of James Bond films.
Lyrically, "Laugh, Laugh" describes a rejected lover who takes pleasure in revenge when someone rejects the one who had rejected him.
The song was produced by Autumn house producer Sylvester Stewart, who later gained fame as Sly Stone of Sly & the Family Stone
Sly & the Family Stone
Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music...
.
Valentino recalled the band's recording sessions with Stone: "He was only about nineteen or twenty when we worked with him. It was before all of his reputation came to be, that everybody knows him for now." Valentino added, "He was a cheerleader. He could play everything if we needed him to. He was great. He was the guy in San Francisco who knew how to make a record in the studio. There was nobody before him."
Elliott agreed, saying Stone was a positive influence on the band because of his talent, intelligence and experience.
Release and reception
"Laugh, Laugh" was released in December 1964, seven months after the band's formation. In January 1965, the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 96.The song remained in the top 40 portion of the chart for eight weeks, peaking at number 15 in February.
Donahue believed the single would have peaked at number one if the band was on a label with stronger distribution.
In Canada, the song reached number two on RPM
RPM (magazine)
RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...
magazine's singles chart.
As the song climbed the charts, many listeners assumed the Beau Brummels were British, due to the band's name and musical style.
For their part, Donahue and Mitchell spread rumors that the band was indeed from the UK, and had the band dress in Beatlesque suits.
"Laugh, Laugh" was the first hit single from a burgeoning San Francisco music scene—including such bands as Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, We Five, Moby Grape, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Country Joe and the Fish— to respond to the British Invasion.
The song is credited as one of the earliest tracks to blend beat music
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
with folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
, even before The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
recorded "Mr. Tambourine Man
Mr. Tambourine Man
"Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan, which was released on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. The Byrds also recorded a version of the song that was released as their first single on Columbia Records, reaching number 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and...
."
Chris Hillman
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....
, who played bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
with the Byrds, saw the Beau Brummels at a Los Angeles concert, and later remarked: "I remember them doing the hit they had, 'Laugh, Laugh.' They really sort of answered the Beatles before we did, in that sense."
However, Byrds singer-guitarist Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
claimed "they had a little trouble singing in tune."
The song was one of 10 pop singles named in a January 1966 issue of Billboard which credited the use of harmonica in folk, pop, and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
(R&B) music for sparking a harmonica sales boom at record retailers in 1964 and 1965.
Music critic Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...
selected the song for his 1989 book, The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.
William Ruhlmann of Allmusic called it a "pivotal" song with "cleverly arranged harmonies."
On the other hand, Chris Smith of Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
described it as a "mostly colorless, indistinct Beatles rip-off" and "pretty unmemorable."
In 1994, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
's curatorial staff, along with rock critics and historians, selected "Laugh, Laugh" for a Hall of Fame exhibit featuring The 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll."
In popular culture
The Beau Brummels performed "Laugh, Laugh" on several television music variety showVariety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
s of the mid-1960s, including NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Hullabaloo
Hullabaloo (TV series)
Hullabaloo is an American musical variety series that ran on NBC from January 12, 1965 through August 29, 1966. Similar to Shindig! it ran in prime time in contrast to ABC's American Bandstand.-Overview:...
on February 23, 1965,
ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Shindig!
Shindig!
Shindig! was an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles at the time who also created the show along with his wife Sharon Sheeley and production executive Art Stolnitz....
on March 10, 1965
and American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
on April 9, 1966.
In September 1965, the Beatles' self-titled animated television series debuted and became an immediate ratings success.
As a result, animation studios moved quickly to incorporate cartoon rock bands into other programs. An early effort by Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
showcased the Beau Brummels as animated guests on The Flintstones
The Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
in the season six episode "Shinrock A Go-Go," which originally aired on December 3, 1965.
Appearing as The Beau Brummelstones, the band performed "Laugh, Laugh" on Bedrock
Bedrock (The Flintstones)
Bedrock is the fictional prehistoric city, which is home to the characters of the animated television series, The Flintstones .- Size :...
's TV teen dance show, Shinrock—a takeoff of the Shindig! program.
"Laugh, Laugh" was included on 1972's Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968, a compilation double album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
of American garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
singles that helped influence the development of 1970s punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
.
The song also featured in the 1989 John Candy
John Candy
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle...
comedy-drama
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
film Uncle Buck
Uncle Buck
Uncle Buck is a 1989 John Hughes comedy film starring John Candy, Amy Madigan, Jean Louisa Kelly, Gaby Hoffman, and Macaulay Culkin, and co-stars Jay Underwood and Laurie Metcalf.-Plot:Bob Russell Uncle Buck is a 1989 John Hughes comedy film starring John Candy, Amy Madigan, Jean Louisa Kelly, Gaby...
.
Other versions
An alternate take appears on the Beau Brummels' 1996 three-disc box set San Fran SessionsSan Fran Sessions
San Fran Sessions is a box set compilation which collects 60 demos, outtakes, rarities and unissued performances recorded by The Beau Brummels from 1964 to 1966...
, a collection of rarities, demos
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
and outtake
Outtake
An outtake is a portion of a work that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and DVD reissues of many albums and films as bonus tracks or features, in film often, but not...
s.
The band's Live!
Live! (The Beau Brummels album)
Live! is a live album by American rock group The Beau Brummels. The album, released in August 2000 by Dig Music, was recorded in February 1974 near Sacramento, California, shortly after it was announced that the band had reunited...
album, released in 2000, contains a 1974 performance of "Laugh, Laugh" recorded during a concert in Fair Oaks Village near Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
.
Sal Valentino revisited the song on his 2008 solo album, Every Now and Then, on which he offers a darker interpretation of the track.
Surf rock group The Astronauts performed a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "Laugh, Laugh" on their 1967 album, Travelin' Man.
The song was also covered by California garage rock band The E-Types, whose live rendition is part of the Live at the Rainbow Ballroom 1966 album, released in 1998.
Experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
ian
R. Stevie Moore
R. Stevie Moore
Robert Steven Moore is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. In addition to having numerous albums released on labels around the world, the prolific Moore has self-released over 400 cassette and CD-R albums since 1968, as well as dozens of home videos, mostly through the R. Stevie Moore...
recorded a version of the song on his 1983 album, Crises.
Track listing
7" VinylCredits and personnel
- Sal Valentino – lead vocals, tambourineTambourineThe tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
- Ron Elliott – lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, vocals - Ron MeagherRon MeagherRon Meagher is best known as bassist of American rock band The Beau Brummels. When guitarist-songwriter Ron Elliott was putting the band together in 1964, he asked a friend, Kay Dane, if she knew any good bass players....
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals - Declan MulliganDeclan MulliganDeclan Mulligan is an Irish rock musician, singer and songwriter, best known as a guitarist of American rock band The Beau Brummels...
– rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, vocals - John PetersenJohn Petersen (musician)John Petersen was an American drummer, most notably for rock bands The Beau Brummels and Harpers Bizarre. In 1964 he joined the Beau Brummels, whose first two singles, "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just a Little", reached the U.S. top 20...
– drums - Sylvester Stewart – producer
- Leo de Gar Kulka – engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
Chart performance
| Chart (1965) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Singles Chart RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... |
2 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
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| U.S. Cash Box Top 100 | 17 |