fake ben folds

I dig the Ben Folds. I'd been listening to his stuff all morning, then thought I'd seek out some of his fake songs for fun. When Ben released his latest album, Way to Normal, he recorded a bunch of "fake" songs with the same or similar titles as the real tracks and leaked them online. Ben likes to mess with people. Some of the songs are good, some are obvious jokes; I'm just glad they're out there. Enjoy.

I really like "Lovesick Diagnostician." This should have been on the album.

"Free Coffee Town" isn't bad.

This "Frowne Song" is just silly.

I prefer this "Bitch Went Nutz" to the album version.

I'll say it again: Ben is the man.

soundtrack to this mood

I've been in a mood all week. As with everything in my life, there has been a soundtrack to this mood. It's been generally an angry mood, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. More on that later in another post.

Usually angry moods are good for Ben Folds for some reason. Maybe it's the cursing, I'm not sure. Not all Ben's songs have cursing, but they're not to be listened to with the kids present. What I love about Ben is that he can write emotionally, he can write harshly, he can say things in ways you don't often hear. He also plays a mean piano. Love that.

I should have made it Ben Week on the blog. I've done two Ben Folds posts. I could have done a Ben Lee post, profiled my favorite Ben Affleck movie (Chasing Amy), and put up a recipe featuring Uncle Ben's rice!

This song is called "Zak and Sara," which Ben Folds has said is about about a boy in 1984 playing guitar and writing songs for his girlfriend, who sits on his amp all day watching him play, and in her head is discovering techno – not the music the boyfriend is playing at all. This is why I love Ben Folds. The video is typography set to "Zak and Sara." Shut up, someone took my two loves, music and graphic design and made a video. This is the kind of stuff that makes me happy, people. And the colors! If hot pink does nothing for you, I'm sorry, check your pulse. Something's wrong wit ya. The font is Helvetica. Yes, I know it on sight. Hel-to-the-vetica!

"Dr. Yang" is about all the alternative medicine voodoo witch doctor psychics out there. Coolness. I like the yelling.

Finally, "All U Can Eat," which sums up America in a sarcastic tone. Now, I am an American all-you-can-eat, never been camping kind of girl, but I totally get it. If you have sensitive ears, please move along. Nothing to see here.

P.S. Here's "Rockin' The Suburbs." Just because Ben Folds got an audience to yell "Preperation-H" and the F-word and he's the man. Goes without saying, They yell the F-word. Deal.

I'll have a real post with words later.

because I forgot it was Tuesday

I forgot it was Tuesday.

How does one forget Tuesday?

In lieu of a proper Tunes Tuesday post, here are some of my favorite Ben Folds songs. First up is "Annie Waits" because I love it. Because the clock never stops, never stops, never stops, never waits, she's growing old, and it's getting late. And that's why.

Here's a much younger Ben with Ben Folds Five singing "Selfless, Cold, and Composed." Love the lyric "you just smile like a bank teller, blankly telling me 'have a nice life.'" It's a break-up song. A bad break-up song.

And now for something completely different, this clip is from a real British morning show that obviously didn't know what kind of guy Ben was. Ben and band lipsynched to the album track, a roadie sat in on drums, the drummer was a back-up singer, and Ben was awesomely cheesetastic. Love it, makes me laugh.

And for those of you who may not be big Ben Fold Fans, there is one special song, a song you have to hear live. Fortunately for you, it's on the You Tubes. You see, Ben plays live A LOT. Once in Chicago in 2001, a fan yelled out "Rock this bitch!" and being Ben, he busted out a song improv-style called "Rock This Bitch," and it became a running thing at his concerts for years until he retired it. Here is the masterpiece with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

tunes you need Tuesday: Ben Folds

Do y'all know my boy Ben Folds? I thought everyone knew Ben, but apparently not as I've heard a few of my friends say "who?" when I've brought him up or one of his tunes has come on the iPod. Ben Fold is my homeboy who plays a mean piano and rocks everything from his own tunes like "Brick," the song everyone my age remembers, to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" to Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't Sh*t." Really. He's a white boy from North Carolina who can SANG. Yes, sang.

I first became a fan of Ben Folds in 1997( like everyone else) when Ben Folds Five released their second album Whatever and Ever Amen, with the songs "Brick" and "Battle of Who Could Care Less" playing on the radio every hour. It was the year Scott and I were married and I remember singing both songs driving to work near Atlanta every day, Ben Folds Five was everywhere. I hadn't heard a band who rocked as hard as nearly any other rock band without the use of guitars. It was refreshing and interesting and odd all at the same time. Along with Ben's lovely piano playing and quirky lyrics (who else references the Rockford Files show in a song?) he used expletives without fear or apology and it was certainly off the beaten path for this girl. For instance, off Whatever, "Song For the Dumped" is something everyone's been through and maybe not verbalized, but Ben says what we've all thought in a way only he can. Warning, I've already mentioned the expletives, so if you're at work or you have sensitive ears or children around, you may skip the listening party.

"Song For the Dumped" http://kerryfaler.typepad.com/files/04-song-for-the-dumped.m4a

If you remember, this song came on as our principal opened the door to the minivan for my daughters when I dropped them off for school after they missed the bus earlier this year. Yes, I'm That Mom (for the record, I play the iPod in the car because my precious son put coins in my cd player and failed to put on the kids playlist that morning, which contains no cursing).

Anycursing,the band went on to release The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner in 1999. Here's what the Wikipedia article on the album says about the title:

The title of the album refers to a name that the band's drummer Darren Jessee used on fake IDs as a teenager. The band was unaware of the existence of the real Reinhold Messner, the first man to climb Mount Everest without the aid of an oxygen tank, until work on the album had already progressed — the band was informed of the mountainclimber's existence on February 9, 1999 during an interview with DJ Bruce Warren on WXPN radio.^[2]
He is thanked in the record's liner notes for his understanding and
cooperation. Messner later contacted Ben Folds Five to let them know
that he was highly pleased with the album.

As all good things come to an end, Ben Fold Five folded and Ben went solo with Rockin' the Suburbs in 2001 and lo and behold, he played almost all instruments on the album including guitar of all things! Its a great album, go get it right now if you don't have it and you'll have a new instant favorite. Here's the title track, "Rockin' the Suburbs," and it has Ben screaming the F-word at one point, so don't say I didn't warn you.

http://kerryfaler.typepad.com/files/10-rockin-the-suburbs.m4p

And because it's my favorite and this song gets me every time, here's "Annie Waits," which I think is a pretty perfect song. On second thought, I can't get the infernal thing to work, so go watch it on YouTube, it's worth it. Really.

Next Ben put out Songs for Silverman, and this past fall, Way to Normal. The latter is on my everyday listening, it's pretty doggone good. Way to Normal is full of the quirky and ecclectic Ben that I know and love, it's good stuff. I've been listening for a while and I'm discovering something new with it all the time. Ben Folds is a musician who likes to tuck unexpected lyrics and delightful melodies into his albums and there is usually something special in every track, with his latest being every bit of that. Right now my favorite of the album is "You Don't Know Me" with Regina Spektor, so I'll end with that. Y'all have a great rest of this Tunes Tuesday. http://kerryfaler.typepad.com/files/04-you-dont-know-me-feat.-regina-s.m4a