| "The Laughing Gnome" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover of the 1967 Belgian single | ||||
| Single by David Bowie | ||||
| B-side | "The Gospel According to Tony Day" | |||
| Released | 14 April 1967 | |||
| Recorded | 26 January, 7 and 10 February, 8 March 1967 | |||
| Studio | Decca (London) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:03 | |||
| Label | Deram | |||
| Songwriter(s) | David Bowie | |||
| Producer(s) | Mike Vernon | |||
| David Bowie singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"The Laughing Gnome" is a song by the English singer David Bowie, released as a single on 14 April 1967. A pastiche of songs by one of Bowie's early influences, Anthony Newley, it was originally released as a novelty single on Deram Records in 1967. The track consists of Bowie meeting and conversing with a gnome, whose sped-up voice (created by Bowie and studio engineer Gus Dudgeon) delivers several puns on the word "gnome".[2] At the time, "The Laughing Gnome" failed to provide Bowie with a chart placing, but on its re-release in 1973 it reached number six on the British charts[3] and number three in New Zealand.[4]
- ^ "Option, Issues 66–71". Books.google.com. 14 January 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
- ^ Buckley (1999), pp. 35–36, 43–44
- ^ Pegg (2016), "The Laughing Gnome" in chapt. The Songs From A to Z
- ^ "1973 Charts". charts.nz. Retrieved 15 June 2018.