"I Have to Laugh"

[David]

Jeremy's lead vocal on Otis Rush's "I Have to Laugh" is spine-tinglingly powerful. Did Jeremy record his great piano accompaniment separately from his vocal track?

[BklynBlue]

I was always curious as to what it was that appealed to Spencer about the song, why he chose to record it -
The B-side to Otis Rush's sole single on the Duke label, (Green claimed the A-side, "Homework" for his own)this is an extremely obscure number -

From the guitar work, I always imagined Spencer playing piano while singing the number, with Green playing the lead guitar -

The guitar work itself is beautifully restrained, comparable to Green's work on the “promo session” recording of “Love That Burns”(on the "Vaudeville Years" CD).
Freed from singing, Green is able to find the thinnest of openings between and even during the verses, underscoring them with guitar lines of such razor precision that you don't even notice you have been cut until the wound begins to bleed, or peppering the listener with stinging pin pricks, felt only in their accumulative impact.

For my own tastes, Spencer's most sublime vocal was delivered on "Hang On To A Dream".

[jeremy spencer]

...especially as I never imagined it could match up to Otis'! Didn't even try, it would have been futile. Anyway, I just liked the song. And yes, I sang it while playing the piano. Those were the days of full track mono recording at BBC!