UK 7" [Rough Trade RT186]
UK 7" [Rhino UK RT186; 2008 reissue]
Australia 7" [CBS RTANZ010]
Canada 7" [WEA RT186]
New Zealand 7" [CBS RTANZ010]

That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
Nowhere Fast (live Oxford 18/3/85)
Stretch Out And Wait (live Oxford 18/3/85)
Shakespeare's Sister (live Oxford 18/3/85)
Meat Is Murder (live Oxford 18/3/85)

UK 12" [Rough Trade RTT186]
Australia 12" [CBS RTANZ12008]
Canada 12" [WEA RTT186]
France 12" [Virgin 80195]
New Zealand 12" [CBS RTANZ12008]
Philippines 12" [Dyna EP ETR-2]
Spain 12" [Nuevos Medios 41-151M]

Additional information:
This single was released in Holland with "The Headmaster Ritual" as the title track, and different artwork.

Original plans were to release a live "Meat Is Murder EP" of five tracks taken from the March 1985 Oxford Apollo concert. "Meat Is Murder" would have been the a-side, backed by "Nowhere Fast" and "Stretch Out And Wait" on the 7" with additional tracks "William, It Was Really Nothing" and "Miserable Lie" on the 12". Plans were scrapped by Rough Trade after the test pressing stage. These test pressings bear the same catalog numbers as the "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" 7" and 12", and have become highly collectible (view 7" artwork in left bar; note: not all test pressings have a 'Mayking' label, some have a plain light yellow one).

The 2008 reissue of the 7" single by Rhino UK was also included in the "Smiths Singles box" which compiled the band's first 10 UK singles (plus two bonuses). On each of the five weeks leading to the release of the latter box, two singles from it were put up for sale individually. Collectors could therefore buy two single reissues every week, or wait at the end of the programme to get all of them in the box, alongside the two bonus 7"s.

Artwork information:
In "Peepholism - Into The Art Of Morrissey", Jo Slee states that the sleeve was put together using an uncredited photograph (found in Film And Filmaking magazine) of an Italian child actor from the sixties. But it was actually taken from a Ukrainian movie from 1965 titled "The Enchanted Desna" by Julia Solntseva. A still was found in the February 1965 issue of Film And Filmaking magazine (view in left bar). The colour scheme is slightly different on the French 12". The photo was reused in 1988 as a backdrop for the Smiths farewell/solo debut concert in Wolverhampton.

Etchings on vinyl:
UK 7":
OUR SOULS, OUR SOULS, OUR SOULS / OUR SOULS, OUR SOULS, OUR SOULS

UK 12":
OUR SOULS, OUR SOULS, OUR SOULS / none

Canada 12": HELEN WHEELS / none

Additional release date information:
UK: 5 July 1985
Australia: 27 August 1985
UK 2008 reissue: 1 December 2008

Chart peak information:
UK: 49

Promotion:
UK: This single was promoted in the UK with a white label version of the 12" single. The label was actually light pink. The record was often dispatched inside an early version of the sleeve, with slightly alternate artwork. An extremely limited number of test pressings of the 7" with Mayking pressing plant labels and a Scott Piering promo bill fixed to a generic sleeve were used for very early promotion of the single.

Australia: This single was promoted by the usual Australian promo 7" and 12", identical to their stock counterparts except for the labels which were the black and white 'hat man' ones. The 7" was occasionally dispatched inside a generic CBS sleeve instead of the picture one. The promo 12" sleeve was the stock one, gold stamped on the back with the usual promo warnings.

Canada: Gold stamped copies of the 12" were the main means of promotion of this single.

France: Stamped copies of the stock 12" were used for promotion.

New Zealand: Stock copies of the 7" and 12" formats were dispatched for promotion with a "Demonstration record" sticker on the b-side's label.

Quotes:
Johnny Marr, in Uncut January 2006, about the lack of success of this single: "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?"