The Laughing Gnome
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| "The Laughing Gnome" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by David Bowie | ||
| B-side | "The Gospel According to Tony Day” | |
| Released | 14 April 1967 | |
| Format | 7" single | |
| Recorded | Decca Studios, London, 26 January 1967 | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Length | 3:01 | |
| Label | Deram DM 123 |
|
| Producer | Mike Vernon | |
| Chart positions | #6 (UK, 1973 reissue) | |
| David Bowie singles chronology | ||
| "The London Boys" 1966 |
"The Laughing Gnome" 1967 |
"Love You Till Tuesday" 1967 |
The Laughing Gnome was a single by David Bowie. Released in 1967, the song was a novelty single, as Bowie desperately tried to find a commercial breakthrough. The track consisted of the singer meeting the creature of the title and having a conversation, with the gnome’s high-pitched voice (provided by Bowie and studio engineer Gus Dudgeon) delivering a number of deliberately terrible puns on the word ‘gnome’.
Despite this wanton abandonment of Bowie’s musical standards, at the time “The Laughing Gnome” would not provide Bowie with the much-wanted hit single.
Ironically, the song would be a hit when reissued in 1973 by Deram, when Bowie had already made a massive commercial breakthrough with The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and despite it being radically different from his material at the time, the single made #6 in the UK charts, much to the amusement of the music press and Bowie’s rival, Marc Bolan. A second reissue in 1982 wasn’t as successful, failing to chart.
In 1990, Bowie announced that the set list for his ‘greatest hits’ Sound + Vision Tour would be decided by telephone voting, and the NME made a spirited attempt to rig the voting so Bowie would have to perform “The Laughing Gnome”, but the voting system was scrapped.
"The Laughing Gnome" was frequently referenced in the comic strip Great Pop Things, where it was described satirically as a "mod anthem".
[edit] Track listing
- "The Laughing Gnome" (Bowie) – 3:01
- "The Gospel According to Tony Day” (Bowie) – 2:48
[edit] Production credits
- Producers:
- Mike Vernon
[edit] References
Pegg, Nicholas, The Complete David Bowie, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000, ISBN 1-903111-14-5
