(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Neil Sedaka - "Laughter in the Rain"
Hit Number 1: February 1, 1975
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
In case anyone didn't realize this, Elton John was perhaps the most famous musician in the world in 1975. To this point on the Hit Hammer, he already hit #1 three times, and released both of the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy albums, and both of those went on to be two of the greatest-selling albums of the '70s. (The latter will bring us a song that will soon appear in this blog) He also collaborated with John Lennon twice, and was a huge part of the reason why Lennon was able to score his first solo #1 in 1974 with "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night". Basically, the guy was on fire. He could've released a song of him belching the ABCs and got a hit out of it. If his name was on it, it would sell. You might be wondering "Ryan, what the hell does Elton John have to do with Neil Sedaka?" Well, it turns out that Elton John is a key reason as to why Sedaka became relevant again in the music world. Because of course he was.
Another accomplishment of John's is that he just started his own freaking record label, Rocket Records. (Presumably after his hit, "Rocket Man", which made it to #6 in 1972. It's an 8) He had first met Sedaka in 1972, and the two became pretty good friends. However, Sedaka had fallen on some pretty bad times. He was one of the many artists who had great success in the early '60s but were brushed aside when the British Invasion came along and turned the music world upside down. (He was able to score a #1 hit in 1962 with "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" before the British Invasion ruined his career at the time) Sedaka did nothing for almost ten years, but that wasn't because of a lack of trying. He had been working on this one song with another songwriter named Philip Cody. Cody and Sedaka were up at Sedaka's rural New York home when he showed Cody a melody he had but he couldn't find words to put with it. Cody had nothing either, so he excused himself and took a walk in the countryside, and of course, smoked some marijuana. He said he sat under a tree, dozed off for a couple hours and when he woke up, he had the words to "Laughter in the Rain".
Keep in mind that neither Sedaka or Cody likely had any high hopes for the song. Sedaka hadn't had any hits in a decade, and by the time the mid-'70s rolled around, he was in his mid 30s. But then Elton John told him that he would welcome Sedaka at his own recording studio for him to record a song for an America single release from his Rocket Records label. As anyone would, Sedaka jumped at the chance, but he wasn't sure of which song to try. "Laughter in the Rain" was just one of several songs Sedaka had stored, but since it was doing fairly well in England, he decided this would be the one that he would record at Rocket Records for an American release. I could only imagine Sedaka's surprise when "Laughter in the Rain" did as well as it did, hitting #1 in the process. Maybe people just genuinely liked the song, or maybe they knew about Elton John's Rocket Records label, and when they saw this song came from that label, they wanted to buy it. I'm not sure, but what I do know is that Elton John struck again.
"Laughter in the Rain" is a pretty simple song. It's about two lovers walking and laughing in the rain. It's constructed as a gloopy, stringy piece of typical '70s pop, and Sedaka sings with a timid, damn near feminine-sounding tenor. I remember the very first time I heard this song, I was like five or six years old. Growing up with two music-loving parents who graduated high school in 1980, I was exposed to their "golden era" of music very often. Anything from about 1972-1986, I heard a lot of before I was even 10. I was in the car with my dad, and he had been playing a custom CD he made with some songs he liked, and "Laughter in the Rain" was on this CD. I asked him who was singing, and he said a guy named Neil Sedaka. I was stunned. I was certain this was a woman singing, but I guess if I was older I would've heard the love interest in the song was a woman, and I could start putting the pieces together. Point is, Sedaka sings in that unintimidating, soft tone, and it actually helps make the song. It also has good imagery, which my small circle of friends who read these reviews should know by now, is a big deal to me. I like picturing these songs' plots going down in my head, and with "Laughter in the Rain", I can picture the two lovers holding hands and laughing in heavy rain.
Even though the song is still pretty gloopy, I love how everything comes together in the chorus. I really like Sedaka's "oooooh I hear laughter in the rain!" when the chorus starts. The piano, the strings, and Sedaka's lead vocal bring you a neat piece of songcraft when that chorus hits. This isn't usually the kind of song that I can be sold on, but I respect the craftsmanship on it, and I really respect the determination and the grind that Sedaka went through to become a popular artist again. He wouldn't stop here, and he'll show up in this series again.
GRADE: 7/10
IN POP CULTURE:
This is kind of a cover, kind of not. The legendary singer/producer Steve Tyrell recorded his own version of "Laughter in the Rain", and it was with Sedaka himself. I thought it was a pretty cool collab, so this is what I chose to put here. Here's that video:
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