Album: Neil Young (1969)

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• Don't call pretty Peggy, she can't hear you no more
  Don't leave no message 'round her back door
  They say the old laughin' lady been here before
  She don't keep time, she don't count score
  
  You can't have a cupboard if there ain't no wall
  You got to move, there's no time left to stall
  They say the old laughing lady dropped by to call
  And when she leaves, she leaves nothing at all
  
  See the drunkard of the village falling on the street
  Can't tell his ankles from the rest of his feet
  He loves his old laughing lady 'cause her taste is so sweet
  But his laughing lady's loving ain't the kind he can keep
  
  There's a fever on the freeway, blacks out the night
  There's a slipping on the stairway, just don't feel right
  And there's a rumbling in the bedroom and a flashing of light
  There's the old laughing lady, everything is alright Writer/s: Neil Young
  Publisher: Hipgnosis Songs Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 4

• John T from MiI'm pretty sure that the the flashing of light is gunshots following a fight. Every line in the song is a description of a different tragedy caused by alcohol. Car crashes, homelessness, falls, violence, broken relationships, chronic disease: people dying or just disappearing before their time. All coded in a few verses that sound like a beautiful love song until you really listen. Neil was such a genius.
• Bob from Beverly Hills, CaThere used to be a brand of cooking wine called Laughing Lady when I was a kid in the 70's. It would be something that bums and hardcore alcoholics would buy to get buzzed because it's cheap and has a high alcohol by volume. For that reason, I assumed the song was about alcoholism.
• Martin from MnThe Old Laughing Lady, is about a ghost. The rumbling and flash of light? ... it's a ghost lady alright.
• Cho Cho from Pennsylvania Addiction. Chasing the dragon. Trying to keep that high which ain’t gonna happen. Taste is sweet when you can get it

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