My Sunday Song – “Hard to Laugh” by The Pursuit of Happiness

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic

For My Sunday Song #374, we are on to Deke’s fourth choice which is another Toronto band and this one is called The Pursuit of Happiness. The song is “Hard to Laugh” which is the opening track of their debut album from 1988 called ‘Love Junk’ and it was a single. The album was produced by none other than Todd Rundgren so you know there is some massive talent here as Todd doesn’t just produce anyone.

The song was written by Moe Berg who is the guitarist & vocalist in the band. We also have Kris Abbott who also does guitar and vocals along with Dave Gilby on drums, Johnny Sinclair on bass and Leslie Stanwyck on vocals. The song is about the girlfriend of the guy in this story and she is so gorgeous with a killer body and everyone is wondering why he isn’t smiling from ear to ear all the time. Well, that is easy because she has been cheating on him and he finds it hard to laugh but he is torn up and destroyed.

The song is a great upbeat, power pop song. The song seems almost happy while the subject matter is far from it. There is a lot of humor in the lyrics too and his phrasing is great. Musically, it is simple yet effective as there is a power to it, a great drum beat and rhythm section, I like the guitar tone and it is an all around great tune. Moe’s vocals have a punk feel to it as there is some angst to it which I think adds to the subject matter of the song. He feels it.

Give the song a listen and let me know what you think. This is another one that I think is great, but for some reason never made it across that Canadian border. It’s a shame. Did America miss out on this? I think so. Thanks Deke for another great choice. Go check out The Distortion Den on Youtube or go to Superdekes.com and support Deke. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful and Happy Sunday!

“HARD TO LAUGH”

Everyone who sees you thinks you should be smiling
That girl she’s so pretty, that girl she’s so beguiling
Everyone who sees you thinks you should be happy
Thinks you should coo-coo her and start acting all sappy
But it’s

Hard to laugh when you know that she’s been cheating
Had her
Hands around him and she’s been giving it a beating
We’ll it’s
Hard to laugh when you know that she’s been lying
But you
Got to laugh to prevent yourself from crying

People always ask you why you’re so serious
‘Cause your woman’s got a body that would make most men delirious
Yeah, she’s got a body, of that you’re painfully aware
‘Cause everytime you see it, you want to pull out your hair
But you know it’s

Hard to laugh when you know that she’s been cheating
Had her
Hands around him and she’s been giving it a beating
We’ll it’s
Hard to laugh when you know that she’s been lying
But you
Got to laugh to prevent yourself from crying

Hard to laugh when you know that she’s been cheating
Had her
Hands around him and she’s been giving it a beating
We’ll it’s
Hard to laugh when you know that she’s been lying
But you
Got to laugh to prevent yourself from crying

Hard to laugh when you know that she’s been cheating
Had her
Hands around him and she’s been giving it a beating
We’ll it’s
Hard to laugh when you know that she’s been lying
But you
Got to laugh to prevent yourself from crying

Hard to laugh
Hard to laugh
Hard to laugh

Written by Moe Berg

22 thoughts on “My Sunday Song – “Hard to Laugh” by The Pursuit of Happiness”

    1. First two records were very good. Two Girls In One was another strong single which came out on the following album along with Cigarette Dangles …Moe Berg is a great songwriter on especially Love Junk.

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  3. Glad you dug this one John. TPOH had a cool vibe going with the cranked up guitars and the ladies handling the backing vocals… The whole Love Junk record is solid from front to back. I finally scored a copy of it a few months ago on vinyl.

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  5. This is really good power pop John…and Deke…I like this one a lot. Deke also introduced to 54-40 last week. I think Deke is a bigger power pop fan than I knew.
    This one is my favorite that Deke has picked so far.

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    1. I like Power Pop that packs a punch. lol. Check out the rest of Love Junk Max. I could have went with the big single I’m An Adult Now …but that would have been the obvious choice…

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      2. LOL… well I probably will because my first post by band that is not as known to my readers…I start with the most commercial thing to ease them into it. Thats how I did with The Replacements and Big Star…it worked. After that….here comes the album tracks.

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    1. I wanted to pick songs by bands that really didn’t or have not made a dent yet in the U.S. Gives guys like you and John something new to listen to…

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  10. I re-listened to this song while reading; I hadn’t heard it in a while, so thanks for putting it back on my radar, John!

    I actually passed on a CD copy of “love Junk” at a flea market about 4 years ago, and I am SO kicking myself for it. I must have been overwhelmed by all the stuff around me that day, because that’s the only explanation, haha!

    Great review, John!

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