The Laughing Gnome

Infobox Single
Name = The Laughing Gnome




Caption =
Artist = 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
Writer = David Bowie
Producer = Mike Vernon
Certification =
Chart position = * #6 (UK, 1973 reissue)
Last single = "Rubber Band"
(1966)
This single = "The Laughing Gnome"
(1967)
Next single = "Love You Till Tuesday"
(1967)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Type =


Lower caption = "The Laughing Gnome" is a song by David Bowie. Originally released as a novelty single on Deram Records in 1967, the track consisted of the singer meeting and conversing with the creature of the title, whose speeded-up voice (created by Bowie and studio engineer Gus Dudgeon) delivered a number of puns on the word 'gnome'.David Buckley (1999). "Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story": pp.35-36,43-44] At the time, "The Laughing Gnome" failed to provide Bowie with a much-wanted chart single.Nicholas Pegg (2000). "The Complete David Bowie": p.118]

William Mann's contemporary review of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" referred to "The Laughing Gnome" as "a heavy-handedly facetious number which... steadfastly remained the flop it deserved to be". ["The Times" (May 29, 1967)] "NME" editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray later described it as "Undoubtedly the most embarrassing example of Bowie juvenalia..."Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). "Bowie: An Illustrated Record": p.24] However, Bowie biographer David Buckley has called "The Laughing Gnome" a "supremely catchy children's song" and compared it to contemporary material by Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett, while Nicholas Pegg considered that "the world would be a duller place without it".

The song became a hit when reissued in 1973, in the wake of Bowie's commercial breakthrough "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars". Despite it being radically different from his material at the time, the single made #6 in the UK charts, which according to "NME"'s Carr and Murray left Decca Records as "about the only unembarrassed party". A second reissue in 1982 was not 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 music magazine "NME" made a concerted effort to rig the voting so Bowie would have to perform "The Laughing Gnome" (with the slogan "Just Say Gnome"), but the voting system was scrapped. [David Buckley (1999). Op Cit: p.474]

Track listing

# "The Laughing Gnome" (Bowie) – 3:01
# "The Gospel According to Tony Day” (Bowie) – 2:48

Production credits

* Producers:
** Mike Vernon

* Musicians:
** David Bowie: vocals, guitar
** Derek Boyes: organ
** Dek Fearnley: bass
** John Eager: drums

Cover versions

*Ronnie Hilton - B-side of his cover single "If I Were a Rich Man" (1967); also on the compilation "Oh! You Pretty Things: The Songs of David Bowie" (2006)
*Living Room - "Ashes to Ashes: A Tribute to David Bowie" (1998)
*Buster Bloodvessel - "Diamond Gods: Interpretations of Bowie" (2001)

Appearances in popular culture

*"The Laughing Gnome" was frequently cited in the comic strip "Great Pop Things", where it was described satirically as a "mod anthem".
*Roger Taylor of Queen referenced the song in the opening lyrics of "No More Fun" from his album "Electric Fire": "From the Stairway to Heaven to The Laughing Gnome, it's a mighty long way down Rock 'n' Roll... We got no more fun."

Notes

References

Pegg, Nicholas, "The Complete David Bowie", Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000, ISBN 1-903111-14-5