The Laughing Archive

joy & pain in recorded music

Michael Jackson’s percussive “hee hee.” Stevie Wonder’s celebratory “ah-ha-ha-YEAH” in “I Was Made To Love Her.” Lauryn Hill’s “Ha Ha Ha Ha” quatrain on “Fu-Gee-La.” Each hearken back to the first African American commercial recording artist, George W. Johnson, and "The Laughing Song” recorded in 1890.