Single:
I Started a Joke entered the Australian singles chart* on 4 January 1969 and was a #1 hit. It was #16 on the Top 100 of 1969.
Album:
The song is on Idea which entered the Australian albums chart* on 2 November 1968 and peaked at #8.
Songwriters:
Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Barry Gibb
Producers:
Robert Stigwood, Bee Gees
Record label of Australian release:
Spin
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
Wikipedia:
I Started a Joke was mainly written by Robin, with help from Barry and Maurice Gibb on the bridge. Robin sang lead on the recording.
The song reached #1 in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. However, it was not released as a single in the United Kingdom, only as a track on the album Idea.
This is the last Bee Gees single to feature Vince Melouney’s guitar work, as he left the band in December 1968.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Started_a_Joke
Songfacts:
This song is about someone who has done or said something horribly wrong, which resulted in alienating everyone around him. It’s a great example of lyrical songwriting, and very much a love-it-or-hate-it song. With the opening line, “I started a joke, which started the whole world crying,” followed with, “I started to cry, which set the whole world laughing,” the song can be heard as achingly poignant or overly sentimental, depending on your mindset.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/bee-gees/i-started-a-joke
Lyrics:
I started a joke
Which started the whole world crying
But I didn’t see
That the joke was on me, oh no
Click for full lyrics
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 60s
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