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Faith No More - I Started A Joke

Music Video | 1998
ArtistFaith No More
SongI Started A Joke
AlbumWho Cares A Lot?
DirectorVito Rocco
GenreRock
IntroYes
OutroYes
SpecialYes
Full Storya quite strange man is singing in a karaoke bar. first everybody laughs about him, but later expecially the girl are emotionally very touched.
Intro runtime0:05
Notespreviously unreleased
Sound MixStereo
Technical Specificationscolour - format unknown

Wiki

Synopsis

Set in a shabby karaoke bar, the video follows a nervous crowd watching a flamboyant singer deliver Faith No More's mournful Bee Gees cover. As the performance unfolds, the clip cuts between the singer and several patrons, turning the song into a small-scale melodrama of embarrassment, fascination, and romantic confusion. The singer is not Mike Patton but performance artist David Hoyle, lip-syncing to Patton's vocal. The increasingly emotional performance finally breaks through the audience's mockery, leaving the bar caught between comedy and genuine sentiment.

Factoids & Trivia

  • The song was recorded in 1995 and first appeared as the B-side to "Digging the Grave." It was later included on some editions of *King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime* before becoming a 1998 single from *Who Cares a Lot? The Greatest Hits*.
  • The video was filmed on September 8, 1998, roughly five months after Faith No More had broken up. None of the band's members appear in the clip, which made the karaoke setup an unusually literal substitute for a band performance.
  • David Hoyle plays the singer, lip-syncing to Mike Patton's vocal. Hoyle was then known for his confrontational performance-art persona, the Divine David.
  • The bar audience includes Martin Freeman and Shaun Dingwall, both appearing years before the roles that made them widely recognizable. Michelle Butterly and writer-actor Derren Litten also appear.
  • Billy Gould said the band was inspired to record the cover after hearing it on karaoke during a night off in Guam, in a military bar whose televisions were showing hardcore pornography.
  • Two official edits circulated: the regular music-video version and a dialogue version that gives the barroom drama more spoken interaction.
  • The single was Faith No More's last release before the band's 2009 return. It reached No. 49 in the UK, No. 58 in Australia, and No. 38 in New Zealand.

Lyrics

I started a joke
Which started the whole world crying
Oh but I didn't see
That the joke was on me...oh no..
And I started to cry
Which started the whole world laughing
Oh if I'd only seen
That the joke was on me

And I looked at the skies
Running my hands
Over my eyes
And I fell out of bed
Cursing my head
...
© Faith No More - I Started A Joke. This is an excerpt, provided as citation under fair-use.
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