Laugh, Laugh

In 1964, San Francisco disc jockeys Tom Donahue and Bobby Mitchell were looking for new acts to bring to their Autumn Records label.[5] They discovered the Beau Brummels performing at the Morocco Room, a club in nearby San Mateo, and signed the band shortly thereafter.[5] 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.[5] The Beau Brummels had taken their name, a British term for an excessively well-dressed person, suggested to them, which lead singer Valentino maintained they didn't even know how to spell.[6] Even the harmonies of "Laugh, Laugh" were reminiscent of popular British acts of the time,[7][8] such as the Beatles and the Zombies.[9] However, songwriter-guitarist Ron Elliott said the song was directly influenced not by UK bands, but by U.S. pop group the Four Seasons.[10]

Elliott grew up writing music inspired by theatrical composers such as George Gershwin and Jerome Kern, as well as country music artist Lefty Frizzell.[9] After forming the Beau Brummels with lead vocalist Sal Valentino, Elliott wanted to create simplified music that had mainstream appeal.[9] 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."[11] 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.[9] Lyrically, "Laugh, Laugh" describes a rejected lover who takes pleasure in revenge when someone rejects the one who had rejected him.

The song features a harmonica, played by Declan Mulligan, throughout the tune.

The originally-released version of "Laugh, Laugh," universally heard in 1965 when it was a hit, fades out just before the second iteration of the line "Lonely/Oh so lonely." The full version does not fade out, but rather ends "cold" on an E chord. As most oldies radio stations today play songs provided by a music service rather than actual records, the version with the cold ending is heard almost universally now. This version also features a "yeah" uttered by Sal Valentino between the two iterations of "lonely" that was edited out of the original release.[12]

The song was produced by Autumn house producer Sylvester Stewart, who later gained fame as Sly Stone of Sly & the Family Stone.[13] 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."[14] 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."[14] Elliott agreed, saying Stone was a positive influence on the band because of his talent, intelligence and experience.[9]

"Laugh, Laugh" was released in December 1964, seven months after the band's formation.[2] In January 1965, the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 96.[15] The song remained in the top 40 portion of the chart for eight weeks, peaking at number 15 in February.[16][17] Donahue believed the single would have peaked at number one if the band was on a label with stronger distribution.[18] In Canada, the song reached number two on RPM magazine's singles chart.[19] As the song climbed the charts, many listeners assumed the Beau Brummels were British, due to the band's name and musical style.[2][9] For their part, Donahue and Mitchell spread rumors that the band was indeed from the UK, and had the band dress in Beatlesque suits.[5]

"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—[11] to respond to the British Invasion.[20][21] 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."[2][5] 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."[10] However, Byrds singer-guitarist Roger McGuinn claimed "they had a little trouble singing in tune."[10] Record World commented on the song's "dynamism" and said that the Beau Brummels "sing and play with a splendid slant toward the contemporary teenage beat."[22] 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.[23]

Music critic Dave Marsh selected the song for his 1989 book, The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.[24] William Ruhlmann of Allmusic called it a "pivotal" song with "cleverly arranged harmonies."[12] On the other hand, Chris Smith of Stylus Magazine described it as a "mostly colorless, indistinct Beatles rip-off" and "pretty unmemorable."[25] 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."[26]

The Beau Brummels performed "Laugh, Laugh" on several television music variety shows of the mid-1960s, including NBC's Hullabaloo on February 23, 1965,[27] ABC's Shindig! on March 10, 1965[28] and American Bandstand on April 9, 1966.[29] In September 1965, the Beatles' self-titled animated television series debuted and became an immediate ratings success.[30] As a result, animation studios moved quickly to incorporate cartoon rock bands into other programs.[30] 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.[30][31] Appearing as The Beau Brummelstones, the band performed "Laugh, Laugh" on Bedrock's TV teen dance show, Shinrock—a takeoff of the Shindig! program.[31]

"Laugh, Laugh" was included on the 1998 four-CD expanded edition of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968, a collection of American garage rock singles that helped influence the development of 1970s punk rock. (It was not included in the original 1972 compilation double album).[32][33][34] The song was also featured in the 1989 John Candy comedy film Uncle Buck.[35]

An alternate take appears on the Beau Brummels' 1996 three-disc box set San Fran Sessions, a collection of rarities, demos and outtakes.[36] 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.[37] Sal Valentino revisited the song on his 2008 solo album, Every Now and Then, on which he offers a darker interpretation of the track.[38] Surf rock group the Astronauts performed a cover version of "Laugh, Laugh" on their 1967 album, Travelin' Man.[39] 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.[40] Experimental musician[41] R. Stevie Moore recorded a version of the song on his 1983 album, Crises.[42] Rob Seel released a version in 2017, which includes performances by Mark Dawson of the Grass Roots and Grip Weeds members Kurt Reil, Rick Reil, and Kristin Pinell.[43]

The Beau Brummels

• Sal Valentino – lead vocals, tambourine
• Ron Elliott – acoustic guitar, vocals
• Ron Meagher – bass guitar, vocals
• Declan Mulligan – electric guitar, harmonica, vocals
• John Petersen – drums

Production team

• Sylvester Stewart – producer
• Leo de Gar Kulka – engineer