Most people know Sonny Bono as one-half of the hit duo Sonny and Cher. But before Bono teamed up with Cher, he released one solo single, “Laugh At Me”.
Out in 1965, “Laugh At Me” says, “Well how can I be like any guy / Why do they have to make me run / What do they care about the clothes that I wear / What do they get from making fun / Well we got a lot of space / And if you don’t like my face / It ain’t me who’s going anywhere / ‘Cause I don’t care / Let them laugh at me / If that’s so fair / Well then I don’t have to care / To be free until they laugh at me.”
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The song is written solely by Bono. Sadly, “Laugh At Me” was based on an unfortunate event that actually happened to Bono.
“It was inspired by such a terrible experience,” he later recalls. “We were so tired of getting beaten up and having people call us [bad names], and then our own friends kicked us out of their restaurant, Martoni’s. This other guy had been the one to blame, but they said, ‘We always have trouble when you come in here.’”
Later, Bono released a version of “Laugh At Me” with Cher. The song appears on their sophomore The Wondrous World of Sonny & Chér record.
The Success of Sonny & Cher
It’s understandable that Bono only released one song on his own, since he found success with Cher, whom he was dating at the time (the couple married in 1969). Together, Sonny & Cher released five studio albums and had several hit singles, including “I Got You Babe”, their only No. 1 hit.
Ironically, Cher didn’t like “I Got You Babe” when Sonny first played it for her.
“Sonny woke me up in the middle of the night to come in where the piano was, in the living room, and sing it,” she remembers. “I didn’t like it and just said, ‘Okay. I’ll sing it, and then I’m going back to bed.’ So, I was never a very good barometer.”
Sonny & Cher also found success with The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, a show that ran from 1971 until 1974, when the couple split up.
“Doing the show kept us together because on the show we had so much fun,” Cher later admits. “We were equal. That was… I mean, I loved it. We worked so well together, and it really kept us closer longer than I really wanted.”
Photo by Jeff Hochberg/Getty Images
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