The Laughing Gnome absolutely cracked me up the first time I heard it, and I would play it for laughs to my peers. When I heard it in 97 the Smurfs songs were popular among children, so the Gnome nonsense fit with what my younger siblings were listening to.
Love it brother. Im a 42 yrold geez and my all time favorite is "im Deranged" -Lost Highway soundtrack (2 versions) with Eno producing. Originally it was on 1995's "outside" (which I didn't care for) but good lord that song is still my favorite somehow. Prolly not a ton of trivia on it but the Eno collaboration always exemplifies his brilliant production talent. I still fantasize about a Bowie/Reznor/Eno project that will never happen
His career starts at space oddity. Pretty good decade of music. Actually tough to beat his run of quality releases in the 70s up to scary monsters. Who else can compete? Stones? Floyd? I think Bowie beats them out.
Also a masterpiece inmho. I was a child when I heard it and it surprised and amused me massively. You will probably never know the joy of performing this song but try it and you might understand why it is such a classic. Try it on a ukulele, it rocks!
Being the older generation it always reminded me of Joe Meeks "I Hear a New World" and always thought it was a pastiche of the track "March of the Globbits" due to the speeded up voices and rythym, and there is a tenuous link there as Meek was courted by Decca who turned down that album which was never released, only recently has the full album been available, another snippit is Joe Meek died early the same year as Bowie released The Laughing Gnome in 67, no way do i believe Anthony Newley was the inspiration behind it thats just daft by 67 Newley had gone theatrical, i maintain that it was Joe Meeks work that Decca had on the shelf.
The humor is a bit awkward with its blatant puns, but the fact that he sounds stoned out of his mind is sort of a mitigating factor. Humor aside, I just like the sound of the record, with its funked up reggae-like beat during the verses and psychedelic sunshine pop chorus. It is the epitome of the illusion that was the 1967 Summer of Love. When I first heard it on the radio in 1973, the sheer irony made it worth hearing and it still is. Bowie has done much better, but he's also done worse; I'd much rather hear Laughing Gnome than, for instance "Golden Years".
I really like Laughing Gnome. The arrangement's got a real swing to it &, ignoring the lyrics, it's a cracking tune. Even the lyrics aren't 'that' bad: The Beatles produced plenty of 'whimsy' around the time, some of it truly awful ('Octopus's' Garden, Maxwell's silver Hammer anyone?) & have you looked at the lyrics to MacArthur Park? Jesus. Nothing wrong with humour in pop, & Bowie had an excellent sense of it.
DIck Fearnley's Bass line on The laughing gnome is "Awesome" strangely something you did not mention... and it was not the first time Bowie had indulged in comedy songs and it would not be the last think "Rubber Band" and "She's got medals", previously he had written "over the Wall" for Paul Nicholas to sing under the pen name of "Oscar" and TBH comedy songs were very much part of the musical loandscape in the UK during the 60s they were very popular so the laughing gnome was very much part of its time, i really dont think he had any need to be Embarresed about it.
I've been buying records for over 50 years and "Ziggy" was my first Bowie album. "The Laughing Gnome" was a shock when I first heard it, which was the one and only time I managed to listen to the enitre song. I've given it a chance a few times since, skipping around through the track to see if it's still as bad as I remember, but I can't take more than a few seconds of the damned thing. It's astonishing that 250k singles were sold. Thanks for putting all the details together, I've always wondered how Bowie managed to record something that atrocious.
the whole art school schtick that fed the pop scene of 60' 70' was a tavistock creation, a subtle psy op, the players all actors many the children of military high ups.
Next, dig into the story of what Andy Warhol thought of the song David Bowie wrote about him: ua-cam.com/video/2f8Gux3JLOU/v-deo.html
The Laughing Gnome absolutely cracked me up the first time I heard it, and I would play it for laughs to my peers. When I heard it in 97 the Smurfs songs were popular among children, so the Gnome nonsense fit with what my younger siblings were listening to.
The Laughing Gnome is a classic
Love it brother. Im a 42 yrold geez and my all time favorite is "im Deranged" -Lost Highway soundtrack (2 versions) with Eno producing. Originally it was on 1995's "outside" (which I didn't care for) but good lord that song is still my favorite somehow. Prolly not a ton of trivia on it but the Eno collaboration always exemplifies his brilliant production talent. I still fantasize about a Bowie/Reznor/Eno project that will never happen
WTF? That song is adorable and just proves Bowie’s versatility.
His career starts at space oddity. Pretty good decade of music. Actually tough to beat his run of quality releases in the 70s up to scary monsters.
Who else can compete? Stones? Floyd? I think Bowie beats them out.
Also a masterpiece inmho. I was a child when I heard it and it surprised and amused me massively. You will probably never know the joy of performing this song but try it and you might understand why it is such a classic. Try it on a ukulele, it rocks!
I love "The Laughing Gnome"! Total earworm, and it's just a giant FU to everything that's pretentious and overblown about music.
No Way! This is q quirky cute fun song. I just bought the 45 a year ago or so. I Love It! It shows Bowie not taking himself too seriously.
I Agree and it was very much part of that particular era of the 1960 in the UK songs with a comedic element were very popular in the UK
I love this song. I had no idea that he didn't like it. It's cute how he handled the contest, though.
Or maybe... 'The Laughing Gnome' was just ahead of its time?
Being the older generation it always reminded me of Joe Meeks "I Hear a New World" and always thought it was a pastiche of the track "March of the Globbits" due to the speeded up voices and rythym, and there is a tenuous link there as Meek was courted by Decca who turned down that album which was never released, only recently has the full album been available, another snippit is Joe Meek died early the same year as Bowie released The Laughing Gnome in 67, no way do i believe Anthony Newley was the inspiration behind it thats just daft by 67 Newley had gone theatrical, i maintain that it was Joe Meeks work that Decca had on the shelf.
I have an original copy of this, it is truly unique and awful
I kinda like the gnome ? Really different ,strange , if it doesn’t kill you your just gonna try harder.
He was so lost at the beginning lol
I love his first record! So silly British pop. PLAY LOUD
It's not the worst song he's ever written. That (dis)honour goes to "Even a Fool Learns to Love" and "Too Dizzy".
It had to be this or Glass Spiders. Or Tin Machine.
The humor is a bit awkward with its blatant puns, but the fact that he sounds stoned out of his mind is sort of a mitigating factor. Humor aside, I just like the sound of the record, with its funked up reggae-like beat during the verses and psychedelic sunshine pop chorus. It is the epitome of the illusion that was the 1967 Summer of Love. When I first heard it on the radio in 1973, the sheer irony made it worth hearing and it still is. Bowie has done much better, but he's also done worse; I'd much rather hear Laughing Gnome than, for instance "Golden Years".
I really like Laughing Gnome. The arrangement's got a real swing to it &, ignoring the lyrics, it's a cracking tune. Even the lyrics aren't 'that' bad: The Beatles produced plenty of 'whimsy' around the time, some of it truly awful ('Octopus's' Garden, Maxwell's silver Hammer anyone?) & have you looked at the lyrics to MacArthur Park? Jesus. Nothing wrong with humour in pop, & Bowie had an excellent sense of it.
Nothing wrong with humour!
It's no better or worse than Syd's The Gnome. That's a clunker on Piper.
DIck Fearnley's Bass line on The laughing gnome is "Awesome" strangely something you did not mention... and it was not the first time Bowie had indulged in comedy songs and it would not be the last think "Rubber Band" and "She's got medals", previously he had written "over the Wall" for Paul Nicholas to sing under the pen name of "Oscar" and TBH comedy songs were very much part of the musical loandscape in the UK during the 60s they were very popular so the laughing gnome was very much part of its time, i really dont think he had any need to be Embarresed about it.
I've been buying records for over 50 years and "Ziggy" was my first Bowie album. "The Laughing Gnome" was a shock when I first heard it, which was the one and only time I managed to listen to the enitre song. I've given it a chance a few times since, skipping around through the track to see if it's still as bad as I remember, but I can't take more than a few seconds of the damned thing. It's astonishing that 250k singles were sold. Thanks for putting all the details together, I've always wondered how Bowie managed to record something that atrocious.
the laughing gnome is one of my favorite of his songs. the driving beat and the bass line kicks ass. you
Pointless exercise in cashing in on Bowies early work. Pointless and sad
the whole art school schtick that fed the pop scene of 60' 70' was a tavistock creation, a subtle psy op, the players all actors
many the children of military high ups.
I think you just hate fun and whimsy
1980 til the late 2000s. Particularly ‘never let me down’