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.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 