Not That Funny
"Not That Funny" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Fleetwood Mac | ||||
from the album Tusk | ||||
B-side | "Save Me a Place" | |||
Released | February 1980 (UK)[1] | |||
Recorded | 1979 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:11 | |||
Warner Bros. | ||||
Songwriter(s) | Lindsey Buckingham | |||
Producer(s) | Fleetwood Mac, Richard Dashut, Ken Caillat | |||
Fleetwood Mac singles chronology | ||||
|
"Not That Funny" is a song by British-American rock band
Background
"Not That Funny" was derived from an unused Buckingham song titled "Needles and Pins", originally recorded in June 1978. "Needles and Pins" later split into two different songs, "Not That Funny" and "I Know I'm Not Wrong", both of which share the "don't blame me" lyrics found in the chorus and the "here comes the nighttime" lyrics found in the bridge.[5]
Buckingham performed his vocal part on the ground in a push-up position to achieve the desired vocal take. He also insisted on recording the vocals in a replica of his own personal bathroom, which was installed in Studio D of the LA
Some of the electric guitars were detuned and recorded at high speed before being slowed down to 30 ips. The electric guitars were also sent through a tape recorder and mixing console to achieve a lower pitched, compressed, and thicker sound. The inverse occurred for the acoustic guitars, which were recorded at a slower speed but sped up with the VSO so that the instrument would resemble a harpsichord or a music box. The acoustic guitars were used sparingly on the verses but opened up during the bridge and chorus with an eighth and sixteenth note feel.[5]
For the drums, Buckingham layered several tracks of kick and snare drums and overdubbed tom drum fills leading to the vamp. The vocals were tripled, some of which were sung by Christine McVie. Fleetwood Mac engineer Hernán Rojas commented that Buckingham often asked McVie to help out with vocals on his songs due to their vocal blend. Buckingham also played the cello setting on a Chamberlin M1 keyboard to provide additional textures to the rhythm track.[5]
Release and live performances
While released as a single in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, "Not That Funny" was not released elsewhere. Instead, the track's B-Side, "
For the Tusk tour, the band wanted their keyboard tech, Jeff Sova, to play synthesizers on the song to recreate some of the additional sounds heard on the record. However, this idea was dropped as it was interfering with his stage work. Instead, the only keyboard used on the song was a
Critical reception
"Not That Funny" has generally received positive reception. Stephen Holden, a reviewer for
Retrospectively, Marcello Carlin of
Personnel
- Lindsey Buckingham – lead vocal, electric, acoustic, and bass guitars, Chamberlin, drums
- Christine McVie – additional vocals
References
- ^ Hung, Steffen. "Fleetwood Mac – Not That Funny". Hitparade.ch. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ Holtje, Steve (1998). "Fleetwood Mac". In Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds.). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit: Visible Ink Press. p. 434.
- ^ Harr, Douglous (13 January 2016). "Fleetwood Mac – 'Fleetwood Mac', 'Rumours' + 'Tusk' (1975 -1979): Reissues". Something Else!. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
- ^ Weingarten, Christopher; et al. (2 May 2022). "Fleetwood Mac's 50 Greatest Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4930-5983-6.
- ^ Reed, Ryan (2019-10-11). "Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk': 10 Things You Didn't Know". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
- ^ Irvin, Jim (2016). Tusk (2015 Remastered Deluxe Edition) (Liner Notes). Fleetwood Mac. Los Angeles: Warner Bros. Records Inc. p. 15. Publisher Warner Bros #2HS-3350.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
- ^ Mountain, Lexie (10 April 2013). "Armed with hits, Fleetwood Mac plays with crowd's emotions at Verizon Center". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
- ^ Doerschuk, Bob. "From the Archive: Christine McVie - KeyboardMag". www.keyboardmag.com. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
- ^ Holden, Stephen (13 December 1979). "Fleetwood Mac Tusk Album Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
- ^ Connelly, Christopher (August 30, 1984). "Lindsey Buckingham's Tuneful Triumph". The Blue Letter Archives. Archived from the original on December 30, 2015. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
- ^ Hernandez, Raoul. "Live Shots – Music – Fleetwood Mac". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
- ^ Kent, Nick (20 October 1979). "Fleetwood Mac: Tusk (Warner Brothers)". New Musical Express. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ISBN 0-671-63068-7.
- ^ Carlin, Marcello (1 April 2004). "Cocaine Heights". Uncut. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ Simon Reynolds (1995), FLEETWOOD MAC, Tusk from Unknown Pleasures: Great Lost Albums Rediscovered booklet, free with Melody Maker, 1995 [director's cut version]
- ^ Bennun, David (13 February 2017). "How Fleetwood Mac Invented Goth, By David Bennun". The Quietus. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ Zaleski, Annie (27 September 2022). "Joni Mitchell's 80s: how the Canadian songwriter became a fearless, futurist auteur". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 July 2023.