Laugh At Me - Sonny Bono

On Friday night my good friend Gordon pulled a battered looking 7-inch record from his bag, placed it on a turntable, dropped the needle and let it play. There was a hiss and a crackle and then it kicked in. It sounded absolutely sensational; warm, raw, vital and urgent.

Gordon was punching the sky, singing a-long with that sense of sheer abandonment that a good song can make you do.

I had to find out who it was, it sounded pretty Dylan-esque. The song was by Sonny Bono and it is called Laugh At Me.

Listening back now I clearly missed the intro as Sonny introduces the song;

“I never thought I'd cut a record by myself but I got somethin' I wanna say. I want to say it for Cher and I hope I say it for a lot of people”.

In under 3-minutes, Sonny delivers an absolute masterpiece over huge Spector-esque production, building and building until he screams So I don't care, let 'em laugh at me, if that's the fare, I have to pay to be free

The song flows again until Sonny really cuts loose screaming it's gotta start some place, it's gotta start sometime

I love discovering songs I haven't heard before and my friend Gordon's new night at The Admiral Everything Shakes was a great place to do just that. 2 new young bands and DJ's playing vinyl only. The next night will be on Friday 25th September. I hope to discover some more fantastic music.

This is how Gordon discovered the song;

I discovered it watching the film Good Vibrations which is about Terri Hooley and his record shop which he opened during the troubles in Belfast. Despite this he carries on and releases Teenage Kicks by the Undertones as well as some other good tracks that never got the same acclaim such as Big Time by Rudy. Anyway at the end he puts on a massive punk show in Belfast town hall. It's supposed to raise funds to keep the shop and record label running but he has half of Belfast on the guest list and he loses everything so he gets up with all the bands and he sings laugh at me by sonny Bono. It's a fuckin amazing moment! Glad you liked it!

Why can't I be like any guy?

Why do they try to make me run?

Son of a gun, now

What do they care, about the clothes I wear?

Why get their kicks from making fun, yeah?

This world's got a lot of space

And if they don't like my face

It ain't me that's going anywhere, no

So I don't care

Let 'em laugh at me

If that's the fare

I have to pay to be free

Then baby, laugh at me, and I'll cry for you

And I'll pray for you

And I'll do all the things

That the man upstairs says to do

I'll do 'em for you

I'll do 'em

I'll do 'em all for you

It's gotta stop someplace

It's gotta stop sometime

I'll make sure that she's mine

And maybe the next guy

That don't wear a silk tie

He can walk by and say hi

Say, hi

Instead of why

Instead of why

Instead of why babe

Instead of why

What did I do to you?

I don't know what to do