I Started a Joke

"I Started a Joke"
Single by Bee Gees
from the album Idea
B-side	"Kilburn Towers"
Released	December 1968[1]
Format	Vinyl record 45RPM
Recorded	IBC Studios, London, 25 June 1968[2]
Genre	Rock
Length	3:05
Label	Polydor (UK) Atco Records (U.S.)
Writer(s)	Barry Gibb Robin Gibb Maurice Gibb
Producer	Robert Stigwood, Bee Gees
Bee Gees singles chronology
"I've Gotta Get a Message to You" (1968) "I Started A Joke" (1968) "First of May" (1969)

"I Started a Joke" is a 1968 song by the Bee Gees from their album Idea, which was released in September of that year. The song is mainly written and sung by Robin Gibb. "I Started a Joke" is supposedly about someone who has done or said something horribly wrong, which results in social alienation. Another interpretation, related to the previous one, is that the song is sung from the point of view of the Devil.^[3]

Charts

Chart performance

Musical content

According to Robin Gibb, the melancholic melody of the song was inspired by the sounds on board an aeroplane:

Parodies, appearances in other media, etc.

• The song was parodied by a Radio Free Vestibule sketch in which a voiced-over commentary takes the lyrics completely literally.
• The song is featured heavily in the ending of the film Penn & Teller Get Killed, which features the two magicians playing a succession of increasingly elaborate practical jokes on each other with a fatal conclusion.

Cover versions

• Skibby did a reggae cover which has been released as part of the sampler CD set "It's Reggae" in 1996.
• In 1998 it was covered by Robbie Williams with The Orb (for a Bee Gees tribute album).
• In 2001, a cover by The Wallflowers was featured in the Zoolander movie soundtrack.
• Richie Havens, Tim Rose, The Cascades, The Beautiful South, The Dirtbombs, Vonda Shepard, indie pop bands The Lucksmiths and Low, British singers Lulu and Kathryn Williams have also recorded covers of the song.
• There are several instrumental versions with Francis Goya on guitar in his album Romantic Guitar^[5] and James Galway on flute in his 1988 Greatest Hits album.^[6]
• Ventriliquist Terry Fator sometimes performs an excerpt as part of his live show, generally following Stayin' Alive

Faith No More cover

"I Started a Joke"
Single by Faith No More
from the album Who Cares a Lot?
Released	21 September 1998
Format	CD
Recorded	Early 1995
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	3:03
Label	Slash
Producer	Billy Gould Dean Menta
Faith No More singles chronology
"Stripsearch" (1997) "I Started a Joke" (1998)
Alternate cover

Faith No More originally covered "I Started a Joke" as a bonus track on some versions of their fifth studio album King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime but following the band's dissolution in 1998 it was released as their final single with their greatest hits album Who Cares a Lot?.

Music video

The music video for it was filmed on 8 September 1998,^[7] after Faith No More had split up, and featured none of the band members except for Mike Patton in a brief cameo as "Michael from Barnsley". It was directed by Vito Rocco, filmed by Nick Sawyer with make-up by Julie Nightingale and Dani Richardson and had Gabi Norland as the clapper-loader. British actors Martin Freeman and Shaun Dingwall both feature in the promo, along with performance artist David Hoyle as the karaoke singer.^[7]

Track listing

Disc one

1. "I Started a Joke" – 3:03
2. "The World Is Yours" – 5:52
3. "Midnight Cowboy" (Live) – 1:01

Disc two

1. "I Started a Joke" – 3:03
2. "This Guy's in Love with You" (Live) – 4:20
3. "We Care a Lot" (Live) – 3:55

Live tracks recorded on 21 October 1997 at the Horden Pavilion, Sydney, Australia by MTV Australia.

Charts

References

External links

• A short "I Started A Joke" background and song themes
• "I Started A Joke" interpretive study
• List of Bee Gees song parodies, including "I Started a Joke"