“Funny Face”
Donna Fargo
Written by Donna Fargo
Billboard
#1 (3 weeks)
October 14 – October 28, 1972
We need more singer-songwriters who started off as English Language Arts teacher.
The ear for wordplay in her debut single is matched by a talent for narrative structure on its follow-up. “Funny Face” opens with the chorus, making it sound as if she’s the one using the term of affection for her partner.
Then the first verse establishes that while she is indeed counting her man among her blessings, that chorus isn’t her way of thanking him. It’s her way of spotlighting another thing he does that she’s grateful for.
That’s when we learn that the chorus is really his words to her. He says them to her when the burdens of her journey get too heavy. Again like its predecessor, “Funny Face” operates from the assumption that a woman’s purpose is beyond the home, so much so that it doesn’t need to explicitly say it.
But these early seventies love songs of hers are an early blueprint for how the role of husband and wife needed to adapt for a new world of two income households, written delicately enough so that traditional households could find meaning it, too.
“Funny Face” gets a B+.Merle Haggard, “It’s Not Love (But it’s Not Bad)”
Every No. 1 Single of the Seventies
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“A”. Another example of the great uniqueness of the 70’s. Nothing compares before or after. I am not a big fan of putting everyone in the Hall of Fame as most fans are as I believe it lessens the prestige if we do a dump of dozens of singers. However, Donna absolutely has the talent and stats to be in there.
I used to think Donna Fargo was unbearably cheesy and saccharine. But she was surprisingly progressive on a lot of her roles. I’m glad this series encouraged me to give her a second look.
I think the attribute that sets Donna Fargo apart from similarly chipper singers is her believability. Whatever she sings, I never question her sincerely and I tend to be somewhat cynical B+ sounds right
What not everybody knows, or most likely may have forgotten, is that Donna got her teaching degree at the University of Southern California and taught at Northview High School in Covina, twenty miles east of L.A., in the late 1960’s under her actual name Yvonne Vaughn. She is still remembered out in this neck of the woods.
And just how big was “Funny Face” on the charts? Well, besides topping the country chart (natch!), it got up to #5 on the Hot 100 just after the start of 1973, meaning it was entirely possible to hear this song on AM radio alongside “Superstition” (Stevie Wonder), and “You’re So Vain” (Carly Simon), to name just two. Donna never got that close on the pop charts again, but she also didn’t do too bad for herself.
Some songs just ooze sincerity and genuine sweetness. This is among the best of them. It is simply full of joy and adoration.
The production is spot on and her vocals are perfectly matched to the spirit of the song.
If forced to answer, I always thought this was a hit from the late sixties.