That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
The fifth track on the Smiths' Meat Is Murder studio album, 'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore' is the sole track to be released from it as a UK promotional single (July 1985). Per Geoff Travis (owner of Rough Trade), he tried to talk Morrissey out of releasing the song as a single: "I said to him [Morrissey] 'that's not a good idea'. Morrissey was adamant that it be released. The 7-inch single, whose B-side consisted of a live version of 'How Soon Is Now', saw inadequate promotion and reached a modest 49 on the UK Singles Chart. The 12-inch single contained live versions of 'Nowhere Fast', 'Stretch Out and Wait', 'Shakespeare's Sister', and 'Meat Is Murder'.
All B-sides of the single were from the Smiths March 18, 1985 concert at the Apollo Theater in Oxford, UK. Listen to the 12-inch B-side here:
The 7-inch single had ‘Our Souls, Our Souls, Our Souls’ etched on the matrix on both the A and B-side, with the 12-inch version having this message etched only on its A-side Matrix. The B-side of the 12-inch single had ‘Timtom’ etched on its matrix. The matrix on the A-side of the Canadian 12-inch single had ‘HELEN WHEELS’ etched on it.
The lyrics of 'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore' begin with the narrator telling his companion to pull over the automobile in which he is a passenger. This is in response to the driver mocking the lonely and suicidal, whom the narrator closely identifies with on a personal level. The narrator then informs the driver that "...that joke isn't funny anymore" and seemingly threatens him ("Time's tide will smother you and I will too"). The song fades out with the line "I've seen this happen in other people's lives and now it's happening in mine" being repeated several times --- a seeming recognition of the ultimate fate that awaits the narrator having seen it occur with others with whom he shares the emotional malady of loneliness.
Musically, the song has the ability to elicit a visceral response on an almost primordial level. Coupled with poignant lyrics that spill over with desperation and hopelessness, 'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore' is a gut-wrenching journey to the edge of the abyss - not the stuff of pop songs then or now. Indeed, the song's waltz-time-related signature and Marr's rhythm guitar, with strident chord changes lend the music a sweeping, emotive feel. According to Johnny Marr, the song's musical composition "just fell through the roof. It was one of those times when the feeling just falls down on you from the ceiling somewhere and it almost plays itself."
Listen to the studio version of the song here:
Morrissey disclosed to Melody Maker in 985 that the song was a response to journalistic mockery of his songwriting that dwelt "on the unhappy side of life" and to persistent attempts to expose him as a "fake":
"When I wrote the words for that, I was just so completely tired of all the same old journalistic questions and people trying, you know, this contest of wit, trying to drag me down and prove that I was a complete fake. And I was tired of that because it just seemed that, like, even the people within popular music, even the people within the music industry, didn't have that much faith in it as an art form. And they wanted to really get rid of all these people who are trying to make some sense out of the whole thing. And I found that really distressing."
Johnny Marr told Uncut Magazine in 2006 his thoughts on the song's limited success upon its release: "I'd secretly wanted it to do well because I thought it would be our big torch song, our Dusty single. For about two days I got excited thinking we might have a big 'All I See Is You'-type torch song in the chart. Then reality struck. Why would they play that continuously on Radio 1?"
Marr has also said that "My favourite song on that LP now is 'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore'. I think Morrissey is incredible on that, the end is brilliant."1 , as well as that "For a long time 'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore' was my favourite Smiths song, and it's still one of my favourites."2
Music critics largely praised the song, with it being described as "a monolithic ballad of tender yet imposing grace; a score of unreserved, raw beauty that Morrissey dutifully complemented", and the song's coda as containing "one of the most heart-rending vocal passages Morrissey has ever recorded"3.
The artwork for the single is taken from a still of the 1964 Soviet film The Enchanted Desna4.
It features a child actor, the uncropped original having also featured the child's on-screen mother. According to Morrissey, "The eyes are encrusted with hurt and premature wisdom". The image was sourced from a 1965 issue of a specialist film magazine.
'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore' was performed in concert at least 77 times by the Smiths. Morrissey (solo) has performed the song numerous times. Watch Morrissey performing 'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore' here:
Record Collector, 1992
Select, 1993
Simon Goddard, The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life (2004)
The Enchanted Desna is a 1964 Soviet fantasy drama film, directed by Yuliya Solntseva, based on an autobiographical story by a Ukrainian national writer and cinematographer Oleksandr Dovzhenko. The story depicts his whimsical childhood experiences in a Ukrainian village near the banks of river Desna. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Watch the film here: