Favorite Bruce Who Songs: Laughing (#5)

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A happy, happy birthday to our own Joliet Jake! I say that here because he’s indirectly responsible for this countdown: he got an album by someone named “Bruce Who,” then after we figured out the identity of the guy, @teamfreak16 insisted on a “Bruce Who” countdown. So here’s another song from my list of favorites by people named Bruce or bands with Who in their name. Of course, this one is just too obvious, but here it is anyway. #5: Laughing - Guess Who There was a comedy skit I heard on the radio about a conversation between two people (one of whom was older and not into music) about a festival with three bands: Who, Guess Who, and Yes. It was generally patterned after the classic Abbott & Costello “Who’s on First” routine (to the point where, at the end, the older man asked the promoter to write the names of the bands down and the promoter replied, “If I could write, we wouldn’t be stealing this skit!” ). So Guess Who’s up today? Who? No, they were yesterday. One of Canada’s great bands (a Canadian Music Hall of Fame band, no less), the Guess Who had a number of hit records in the late 60s and early 70s. They broke up, spawning two spinoffs, BTO (Randy Bachman was the guitarist for the Guess Who), and Burton Cummings’ solo career (the highlight of which was “Stand Tall” in the US in 1976). Bachman and Cummings, the creative forces in the Guess Who, mended their old rifts and even toured together as a duo and with the other members of the Guess Who. And this song...wowza. With Bachman’s simple one-note guitar opening to Cummings’ powerful vocals, this song smokes from beginning to end. It’s my favorite Guess Who song by a long shot. No joke. Laughing Written by Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings Recorded by the Guess Who From Canned Wheat, 1969 You took me by surprise: