“Laughing” (Guess Who)

Today is April 1st, April Fool’s Day, so it’s only fitting that today’s classic April Fool’s Day song of the day is “Laughing” by the Guess Who. Released as a single in July of 1969, this one went to #10 on the Billboard Hot 100, #4 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #1 on Canada’s RPM Top Singles chart. (The B-side of the single was “Undun,” a big hit in its own right.)

“Laughing” was written by Whovians Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings. It first appeared on their 1969 album, Canned Wheat. The song was inspired musically by the chords of the Bee Gees’ “New York Mining Disaster 1941” and thematically by Roy Orbison’s song “Crying.” It’s about a guy whose girl has left him and he’s having trouble dealing with it:

Time goes slowly, but carries on
And now the best years have come and gone
You took me by surprise
I didn’t realize that you were laughing

Laughing, cause you’re doin’ it to me
Laughing, it ain’t the way it should be
You took away everything I had
You put the hurt on me

She’s laughing at him and he’s so sad it’s funny. The joke was on him.

The Guess Who had their roots in a band called Al and the Silvertones that first got together in Winnipeg in 1958, led by singer/guitarist Chad Allan. By 1962 the band had added Randy Bachman on guitar, Jim Kale on bass, and Garry Peterson on drums, and changed their name to Chad Allan and the Reflections, then again to Chad Allan and the Expressions. They had a minor Canadian hit in 1965 with a cover of “Shakin’ All Over,” and their record label credited it to “Guess Who?” as a publicity stunt. The name stuck.

In 1966 Chad Allan left the newly renamed band and was replaced by singer/guitarist Burton Cummings, then just 18 years old. The group hit the big time in 1969 with the release of “These Eyes,” “Laughing,” and “No Time.” More hits (including “American Woman” and “Share the Land“) followed the next year, then Randy Bachman left the group because his Mormon beliefs contrasted with the band’s hard-partying ways. Things trailed off considerably after that, although both Cummings and Bachman had their own separate post-Guess Who successes—Cummings as a solo act and Bachman as part of Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

And here’s a very special April Fool’s Day daily bonus video of the day, a very early black and white promo film for “Laughing.” The best years have come and gone…