I Started a Joke

About

I Started a Joke was recorded by Robbie Williams in collaboration with ambient electronic pioneers The Orb for the 1998 Bee Gees tribute album Gotta Get a Message to You. The original song, written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, first appeared on the Bee Gees’ 1968 album Idea and became an international hit. Williams’s version reimagines the melancholic ballad as a reggae-tinged, atmospheric track, merging pop melody with The Orb’s experimental soundscapes.

The project, organised by Polydor’s Peter Lorraine, brought together a diverse roster of British acts, including The Lightning Seeds, Boyzone and Space, to reinterpret Bee Gees songs in aid of Live Challenge ’99, a youth charity initiative in the North West of England. The Orb’s Alex Paterson later recalled that Williams’s enthusiasm for collaborating stemmed from an encounter years earlier on Top of the Pops, where he admired their irreverent attitude and shared sense of humour.

Williams’s performance blends vulnerability with restraint, his warm vocal tone contrasting the track’s dub-like production. Though the album failed to chart, the recording remains one of his most unusual and overlooked collaborations, illustrating his openness to experiment outside the pop mainstream during his early solo years.

Robbie nailed it in a day — he’s got great instincts in the studio and was funny as hell to work with.Alex Paterson, The Orb