The Joke

"The Joke" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile. It was co-written by Carlile, Dave Cobb, and Phil and Tim Hanseroth, and produced by Cobb and Shooter Jennings. It was released on November 13, 2017, as the lead single off By the Way, I Forgive You, Carlile's sixth album. With music inspired by "An American Trilogy" by Elvis Presley, the lyrics are intended to uplift people who are marginalized by society. The song received widespread critical acclaim, winning two Grammy awards. Writing and production "The Joke" first came about when Carlile and producer and co-writer Dave Cobb started talking about Carlile's most successful single, '"The Story". Carlile told NPR "it started off with Dave insinuating that we haven't had a vocal moment like "The Story" since, well, "The Story" [...] we all went home that night and I was like, who tells you to rewrite a song that you wrote a decade ago? But it just kept nagging me – like the truth does, you know". Cobb later played her An American Trilogy by Elvis Presley during a session. Cobb explained, "I was playing her Elvis Presley's American Trilogy...there's something magical about that recording. I mean it's the way it affects you; the way it's big in the chords, just pulling every single emotion out of you. So I played that, and then she wrote "The Joke". [laughs] I played her one of the greatest songs of all time, and then she wrote one of the greatest written since that one".