I Started a Joke

"I Started a Joke"
Single by Bee Gees
from the album Idea
B-side	"Kilburn Towers" "Swan Song" (France)
Released	21 December 1968
Format	7", 45 rpm
Recorded	25 June 1968 IBC Studios, London
Genre	Pop
Length	3:05
Label	Polydor (United Kingdom) Atco (United States)
Writer(s)	Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb
Producer(s)	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)
Music sample "I Started A Joke" Idea track listing 12 tracks Side one "Let There Be Love" "Kitty Can" "In the Summer of His Years" "Indian Gin and Whisky Dry" "Down to Earth" "Such a Shame" (UK version) "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" (US version) Side two "Idea" "When the Swallows Fly" "I Have Decided to Join the Airforce" "I Started a Joke" "Kilburn Towers" "Swan Song" Alternative cover French edition picture sleeve

"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
Length	3:03
Label	Slash
Writer(s)	Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb
Producer(s)	Billy Gould Dean Menta
Faith No More singles chronology
"This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" (1998) "I Started a Joke" (1998) "Motherfucker" (2014)
Alternative cover

"I Started a Joke" is a song by the Bee Gees from their 1968 album Idea, which was released as a single in December of that year. It was not released as a single in the United Kingdom, where buyers who could not afford the album had to content themselves with a Polydor version by Heath Hampstead. This is Vince Melouney's last single with the Bee Gees to feature his guitar work, as he left the band in early December after this song was released as a single.

The song's B-side was "Kilburn Towers", except in France, where "Swan Song" was used. "I Started a Joke" was written by Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, and produced by the Bee Gees with Robert Stigwood.

Songs for the Idea album were completed on 25 June. "I Started A Joke" was the last to be recorded.

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

"There was a lot of that in those days" Barry laughed, "There was a lot of psychedelia and the idea that if you wrote something, even if it sounded ridiculous, somebody would find the meaning for it, and that was the truth". Robin Gibb told The Mail on Sunday on 1 November 2009 about "I Started a Joke": "This is a very spiritual song. The listeners have to interpret it themselves, trying to explain it would detract from the song".

The song was originally recorded in the key of G major and has two contrasting sections. The verse sections consist of a cycle of G Bm C and D chords. The chords for the bridge section are Em Bm C G Bm Em Am D.

The promotional video for "I Started a Joke" was directed by Jean-Christophe Averty. It was filmed in Brussels as part of the Idea TV Special and features floating question marks on the song while Robin sings. In the video, Maurice is shown playing a Rickenbacker 4001 and Vince Melouney playing a Gibson ES-335.