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Dobbyelf62 (talk | contribs) →Background: Removed a somewhat out of place quote and replaced it with prose. This was incorporated into a paragraph discussing the VSO and the recording of the guitars |
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{{Infobox song
| name = Not That Funny
| cover = Not_That_Funny_cover.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = [[Fleetwood Mac]]
| album =
| B-side = "Save Me
| released =
| format =
| recorded = 1979
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = * [[Post-punk
* [[New wave music|new wave]]<ref>{{cite book|first= Steve |last= Holtje |editor1-first= Gary |editor1-last= Graff |editor2-first= Daniel |editor2-last= Durchholz |year= 1998 |title= MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |chapter= Fleetwood Mac |publisher= [[Visible Ink Press]] |location= Detroit |page= 434}}</ref>
| length = 3:11
| label = [[Warner Bros. Records|Warner Bros.]] | writer = [[Lindsey Buckingham]]
| producer = [[Fleetwood Mac]], [[Richard Dashut]], [[Ken Caillat]]
| prev_title = [[Sara (Fleetwood Mac song)|Sara]]
| prev_year = 1980
| next_title = [[Think About Me]]
| next_year = 1980
}}
"'''
==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 [[refrain|chorus]] and the "here comes the nighttime" lyrics found in the [[bridge (music)|bridge]].<ref name="Tusked">{{Cite book |last1=Caillat |first1=Ken |title=Get Tusked: The Inside Story of Fleetwood Mac's Most Anticipated Album |last2=Rojas |first2=Hernan |publisher=Backbeat Books |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-4930-5983-6 |location=Guilford, Connecticut |pages=178–179, 183–184}}</ref>
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 Village Recorder. Engineer and co-producer [[Ken Caillat]] taped a microphone to the bathroom's tile floor to satisfy Buckingham's request.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/fleetwood-mac-tusk-things-you-didnt-know-896796/|title=Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk': 10 Things You Didn't Know|last=Reed|first=Ryan|date=2019-10-11|website=Rolling Stone|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-12}}</ref>▼
▲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 [[The Village (studio)|Village Recorder]].
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, "[[Think About Me]]", was issued as the third single in North America. Like the singles from Fleetwood Mac's 1975 [[Fleetwood Mac (1975 album)|self-titled release]], both singles were slightly remixed for radio. While "Think About Me" reached the Top 30 in both the US and Canada, "Not That Funny" failed to chart at all. Despite the lack of initial success, the song became a live staple at Fleetwood Mac concerts. Played live, the song took on an entirely new arrangement - stretched out to almost nine minutes frequently, the song showcased Buckingham's guitar playing, John McVie's bass playing and featured a solo spot featuring Mick Fleetwood's drumming. "Not That Funny" has been performed on the [[Tusk Tour|Tusk tour]], [[Mirage (Fleetwood Mac album)|Mirage tour]], [[The Dance (Fleetwood Mac album)|The Dance tour]], and the [[Fleetwood Mac Live|Live 2013]] tour.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mountain|first1=Lexie|title=Armed with hits, Fleetwood Mac plays with crowd's emotions at Verizon Center|url=http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-04-10/entertainment/bal-fleetwood-mac-at-verizon-center-review_1_lindsey-buckingham-stevie-nicks-audience/2|website=The Baltimore Sun|access-date=March 14, 2016}}</ref>▼
Some of the electric guitars were detuned and recorded at high speed before being slowed down to 30 [[inch per second|ips]].<ref name="Tusked"/> Buckingham multitracked the electric guitar parts on a [[Stratocaster]] and treated the instrument with a variable speed oscillator (VSO) to achieve a [[phase (waves)#phase shift|phasing]] effect.<ref name="2015 deluxe">{{Cite AV media notes |title=Tusk (2015 Remastered Deluxe Edition) |title-link=Tusk |others=[[Fleetwood Mac]] |year=2016 |first=Jim |last=Irvin |page=15|type=Liner Notes |publisher=Warner Bros. Records Inc. |id=Publisher Warner Bros #2HS-3350 |location=Los Angeles}}</ref> 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 [[music box]]. Buckingham played the acoustic guitars sparingly on the verses but used them more extensively during the bridge and chorus with an [[eighth note|eighth]] and [[sixteenth note]] feel.<ref name="Tusked"/>
For the Tusk tour, the band wanted their keyboard tech, Jeff Sova, to play synthesizers on the song in order 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 [[List of Yamaha products#musical|Yamaha console piano]], played by [[Christine McVie]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Doerschuk|first1=Bob|title=Contemporary Keyboard (10/1980), Christine McVie|url=http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=11&c=2|website=The Blue Letter Archives|access-date=March 14, 2016}}</ref>▼
For the drums, Buckingham layered several tracks of kick and snare drums and overdubbed [[tom drum]] [[fill (music)|fills]] leading to the [[ostinato#vamp|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|Chamberlin M1]] keyboard to provide additional textures to the rhythm track.<ref name="Tusked"/>
==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, "[[Think About Me]]", was issued as the third single in North America. Like the singles from Fleetwood Mac's 1975 [[Fleetwood Mac (1975 album)|self-titled release]], both singles were slightly remixed for radio. While "Think About Me" reached the
▲For the Tusk tour, the band wanted their keyboard tech, Jeff Sova, to play synthesizers on the song
==Critical reception==
"Not That Funny" has generally received positive reception. Stephen Holden, a reviewer for ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', compared the production of the track to a beautifully recorded basement tape.<ref>{{cite
Retrospectively, Marcello Carlin of ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'' described it as a "disturbing" song "on which Buckingham’s near-psychotic guitar and vocal screams approach [[Pere Ubu]] territory."<ref name="Carlin">{{cite web |last1=Carlin |first1=Marcello |title=Cocaine Heights |url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/cocaine-heights-17059/ |website=Uncut |access-date=8 August 2023 |date=1 April 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516120937/https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/cocaine-heights-17059/ |archive-date=16 May 2022}}</ref> In his piece for ''[[Melody Maker]]''{{'}}s ''Unknown Pleasures'' guide, [[Simon Reynolds]] drew comparison to [[Faust (band)|Faust]]'s "It's a Bit of Pain" (1973), and praised Buckingham's "hornet-in-your-earhole [[fuzz guitar|fuzz]] solo".<ref>{{citation |author1=Simon Reynolds |title=FLEETWOOD MAC, Tusk from ''Unknown Pleasures: Great Lost Albums Rediscovered'' booklet, free with ''Melody Maker'', 1995 [director's cut version] |date=1995}}</ref> David Bennun of ''[[The Quietus]]'' wrote that "Not That Funny" resembles the music of [[Devo]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bennun |first1=David |title=How Fleetwood Mac Invented Goth, By David Bennun |url=https://thequietus.com/articles/21749-fleetwood-mac-rumours-tusk-tango-in-the-night-anniversary-review |website=The Quietus |access-date=8 August 2023 |date=13 February 2017}}</ref> [[Annie Zaleski]] of ''[[The Guardian]]'' has commented that while some of Fleetwood Mac's songwriting peers of the 1960s and 1970s "incorporated dance influences and synthesisers" to varying levels of success, the group's "[[new wave music|new wave]] nod", "Not That Funny", was a "transformative" example.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Zaleski |first1=Annie |title=Joni Mitchell's 80s: how the Canadian songwriter became a fearless, futurist auteur |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/27/joni-mitchells-80s-how-the-canadian-songwriter-became-a-fearless-futurist-auteur |website=The Guardian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230729031211/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/27/joni-mitchells-80s-how-the-canadian-songwriter-became-a-fearless-futurist-auteur |archive-date=29 July 2023 |date=27 September 2022}}</ref>
==Personnel==
*[[Lindsey Buckingham]] –
*[[Christine McVie]] –
== References ==
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{{authority control}}
[[Category:Fleetwood Mac songs]]▼
[[Category:1979 songs]]
[[Category:1980 singles]]
▲[[Category:Fleetwood Mac songs]]
[[Category:Songs written by Lindsey Buckingham]]
[[Category:Song recordings produced by Ken Caillat]]
[[Category:Song recordings produced by Richard Dashut]]
[[Category:Warner Records singles]]
[[Category:British new wave songs]]
[[Category:American new wave songs]]
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