Monday, November 07, 2005

 

Ben Folds Isn't as Atrractive as Sue Foley

boobiegraph
I realize he's not quite as good to look at,
but I like Ben Folds' music as much as Sue Foley's.
When teaching, I realize that it's sometimes hard not to sound like an idiot. Not because I am an idiot, but because I constantly have to censor the words that come out of my mouth. While I'm not advocating gratuitus swearing in the classroom, nothing I can say hasn't been uttered by at least some of the kids in any classroom I happen to be in. That subject came up on Wednesday as I nearly let fly with a string of profanities, instead telling a kid not to give me any "guff." Man, did I feel like an idiot. Of course, none of the kids had ever heard the term "guff" before, so even though I was the one with extra knowledge, they all thought I was the idiot. Whatever.

I tend to let the explatives fly in my every day life. I know that it's not appropriate to speak like that all of the time, and I am able to keep the swearing in check when I have to. I try not to swear gratuitously when I blog or when I write songs. For the most part, I'm happy with that choice. Sometimes though I think that both suffer because my blogs and songs lack a certain conversational quality.

Ben Folds has never had that problem. I always thought his songs had a conversational quality that is lacking in most songs. That's not to say that his songs are filthy, but he will use the word 'shit' in place of 'stuff' the way one would when talking to friends. I never get the feeling that Ben is talking at me in his songs, it's more of a process of talking with me.

No, I don't only like Ben Folds' music because he swears in his music. In fact, I generally don't like too much swearing in music. It's not that it offends me, it's just that generally there's a better word choice than an explative. In truth, Ben's lyrics aren't all that 'dirty' but he does occasionally use colorful language.

What I really like about Ben's music is what I would term 'low concept.' His songs tend to be about every day life, about the feelings we all have. The first Ben Folds Five song I really noticed was One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces, a little fantasy song about a kid who is picked but grows up to be quite powerful in some unspecified way"

Now I'm big and important, one angry dwarf
And 200 solemn faces are you
If you ever want to see me
Check the papers and the TV
Look who's tellin' who what to do
Kiss my ass
Goodbye


The first Ben Folds Five album to make any sort of waves in the US was the band's second effort Whatever and Ever Amen. With songs like One Angry Dwarf and The Battle of Who Could Care Less, I came to appreciate Ben's everyday situation songwriting. The big hit single on that album was Brick, a song about Ben's girlfriend getting an abortion while they were in high school. The song is apolitical, focusing on the emotional aspect of two people too young to have to be dealing with something like that. I've listened to the song hundreds of times and tried to put some political meaning into, to find some kind of pro-life or pro-choice message in the song. There is none, it's simply the story of two people, a decision they made and how it impacted them. It's up to you to decide if it was moral or amoral, right or wrong.

After Whatever and Ever Amen, Ben Folds Five released The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, a huge departure for BFF's first two albums. While previous efforts had been almost exclusively Piano, Bass and Drums, Reinhold Messner was much more ambitious with liberal use of horns and electronica. At times sounding like Pink Floyd, and times sounding like the Beatles. It's an intersting album which lyrically stays with Ben's strength, writing about the insignifica of everyday life.

After a few listens to Reinhold Messner I thought it was pretty apparent that we wouldn't hear any more Ben Folds Five records. It seemed to me like Ben was trying to break out from the Piano/Bass/Drums thing and wanted to explore more ground muscially. Sure enough, Reinhold Messner was BFF's final album. Ben's first solo effort, the fantatic Rockin' the Suburbs isn't quite as ambitious musically as Messner but it does go different ways than BFF had gone before. This will seem weird when talking about a rock and roll act, but Ben's use of guitar on Rockin' the Suburbs was a pleasant surprise. The highlight of the album is Not the Same, a 'true story' about a friend who takes acid, climbs a tree at a party and stays there all night, coming down the next morning as a born again christian. In the same manner as Brick, it's not a pro-religion or anti-religion song on the surface, it's the story of something that happened and how it effected someone's everyday life.

As much as Rockin' the Suburbs broke new ground for Ben, Ben Folds Live was a return to a simpler musical style. Ben Folds Live is simply Ben on piano and vocals, nothing else. Playing songs from the BFF days as well as Rockin' the Suburbs, the songs are familiar and brand new at the same time. Never is a song done exactly the way you expect it to be done. It's one of my favorite live albums of all time, one I listen to time and time again.

Ben's latest effort Songs for Silverman is, for the most part, a return to the Piano/Bass/Drums formula of BFF. I don't use 'formula' in a derogatory way, it's just a blend of sounds that Ben works well in, and here he's done it again.

I've always liked simplicity in music. Orchestras are nice, songs with more than 3 chords in them are great, but someone who can make compelling music with the bare essentials, making you look at yourself with his words is something special indeed.

BOJ

Comments:
Sarah MacLachlan swears, too. Not often or flagrantly, just when she needs to make a point. She goes from a sweet, breathy soprano softness to an angry growl with an expletive added and you know she means it!

In Building a Mystery she immortalizes a relationship by saying to her lover, "...you're so beautiful, a beautiful f**ked up man, setting up your razor wire shrine..."

Makes me want to meet him!
 
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