I laugh at songs for a bunch of reasons - seldom because they're funny. There's a tiny keyboard stab, on the upbeat, just before the chorus on Shalamar's There It Is which always makes me laugh. I'm not sure why. I think it's because I can imagine the smile on the band's faces when the keyboard player first did it. The laughter's a mark of social/professional approval and delight - extended out through the song to me. Likewise I often smile at the middle 8 of NIck Heyward's Take That Situation, because Pino Palladino's bass flourishses get more elaborate and audacious at the end of every passage. The third one is just brilliant and you can imagine the grins going round the studio when he brings it off.
If I Had A Million Dollars doesn't do any of this. But it made me laugh originally because it's as close to genuinely funny as a 'proper song' can be - in a low-key, charming not-at-all-hip way. Now, it's got funnier because the references seem so familiar and dated. And because we've listened in a hundred happy places. And because it's one of those songs we sing in the car, laughing because we're laughing.
