Sham On -- A Ben Folds Odyssey
First off, I'm going to send you guys here. Click on the link that says Smoke Orchestral Ve... Please ignore the title of the song directly above it. Unless you think sensitive white guy piano covers of hard-core gangster raps are funny, which personally, I do, but whatever.
When I was in Symphony Band in college, we would often play with vocalists. Marching band was the same, and because of that I can say I have played with such notorious artists as Lee Greenwood! And Brian McKnight! Anyway, all I'm saying here is that I would have peed my pants to have the opportunity to toot my clarinet along with Mr. Ben Folds. Peed my pants! Because he is awesome! And so, now, I present to you a short history of my reknowned fascination for this man.
I'm pretty sure the first Ben Folds Five CD I bought was the "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner," sometime in '97. I can't remember why I bought this particular CD first, as it was one of the last ones released by the band. Probably I bought it because at the time "Army" was getting relatively heavy airplay. I'd heard "Brick" and even "Song for the Dumped" before it, and liked them both so I bought "Unauthorized Biography" and even though the latter two of those songs weren't even on it I enjoyed the CD. It was good--competent even--but not great. Later that year for my birthday, I asked for an earlier CD, "Whatever and Ever Amen," mostly because I knew there was a song on it called, "Kate," and I thought it would be wicked cool to own that song, and then I could play it late at night on the stereo in my bedroom and listened to it through my headphones and pretend it was about me. Anyway, I received the CD and listened to it all once through and, lo, religion reached down to me from among a collection of the most amazing songs ever, and an obsession was born.
My freshman year of college, my roommate, Bonnie, and I took full advantage of the heyday of Napster and "free" downloading, and we pilfered all the Ben Folds Five songs we could off the internet. I have fond memories of wasting endless hours listening to "Philosophy" (which I could argue may have been their best song ever) and "Twin Falls" alone. Another thing I discovered, was that being a Ben Folds Five fan gave me instant music cred in most social situations. The fact that I knew their music so well was, arguably, the only cool thing about me for years and years--and well, actually, maybe it still is.
The purchase of "Naked Baby Photos" came next (favorite song from it: "Jackson Cannery") and then much, much later I finally bought their very first self-titled CD (favorite song: "Video,") but nothing, nothing will ever touch the love I have for "Whatever and Ever Amen." There are only two CDs I can still listen to in their entirety after years and years of rotation on my various CD players. Weezer's Blue Album is the other one, and I love you, Blue Album, I do, but you don't have a song titled, "Kate," so you don't win the big prize of My Favorite CD Ever, but hey, don't look so down, little guy. Second place is an honor!
Ben Folds Five split up almost immediately after I really became aware of how much love I had for them in my heart. It was a terrible moment when I realized I would never get to see them play live, but then Ben Folds came out with "Rocking the Suburbs" shortly afterward, and I was mollified. I didn't actually buy this CD. My sister's boyfriend at the time burned me a copy, and I would have felt bad for totally ripping off his first solo attempt, except for the fact that I GOT TO SEE HIM LIVE IN BIRMINGHAM later that year. I bought a small turquoise t-shirt that night that I've had to since retire (though I still have it; oh, you know I do) and that t-shirt, by the power of its ability to successfully communicate my aesthetic tastes in music by the words, "Sham on," alone has granted me access to friendships I may have never had otherwise.
Anyway, "Rocking the Suburbs" was good, but Folds's latest release, "Songs for Silverman"--oh man, that CD is SOLID, and good enough so that it grows better and better the more you listen to it. I've been smitten with it ever since it was released earlier this spring. All I can say is I must loves me a good piano man.
I suppose that's it--my Odyssey. Something just seemed to click in my head just now when I listened to his orchestral rendition of "Smoke," and I felt like somehow I'd come full circle, because I remember what it was like to be part of an ensemble of instruments, to be part of what, in the end, makes something that can be beautiful--even, I would argue, transcendently so. And so what if I can't play piano, or sing or play a guitar for crap? I can remember what it was like to be briefly, briefly a musician. It makes me think I have something in common with Ben Folds, and maybe this is silly for me to admit, but that makes me smile.
When I was in Symphony Band in college, we would often play with vocalists. Marching band was the same, and because of that I can say I have played with such notorious artists as Lee Greenwood! And Brian McKnight! Anyway, all I'm saying here is that I would have peed my pants to have the opportunity to toot my clarinet along with Mr. Ben Folds. Peed my pants! Because he is awesome! And so, now, I present to you a short history of my reknowned fascination for this man.
I'm pretty sure the first Ben Folds Five CD I bought was the "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner," sometime in '97. I can't remember why I bought this particular CD first, as it was one of the last ones released by the band. Probably I bought it because at the time "Army" was getting relatively heavy airplay. I'd heard "Brick" and even "Song for the Dumped" before it, and liked them both so I bought "Unauthorized Biography" and even though the latter two of those songs weren't even on it I enjoyed the CD. It was good--competent even--but not great. Later that year for my birthday, I asked for an earlier CD, "Whatever and Ever Amen," mostly because I knew there was a song on it called, "Kate," and I thought it would be wicked cool to own that song, and then I could play it late at night on the stereo in my bedroom and listened to it through my headphones and pretend it was about me. Anyway, I received the CD and listened to it all once through and, lo, religion reached down to me from among a collection of the most amazing songs ever, and an obsession was born.
My freshman year of college, my roommate, Bonnie, and I took full advantage of the heyday of Napster and "free" downloading, and we pilfered all the Ben Folds Five songs we could off the internet. I have fond memories of wasting endless hours listening to "Philosophy" (which I could argue may have been their best song ever) and "Twin Falls" alone. Another thing I discovered, was that being a Ben Folds Five fan gave me instant music cred in most social situations. The fact that I knew their music so well was, arguably, the only cool thing about me for years and years--and well, actually, maybe it still is.
The purchase of "Naked Baby Photos" came next (favorite song from it: "Jackson Cannery") and then much, much later I finally bought their very first self-titled CD (favorite song: "Video,") but nothing, nothing will ever touch the love I have for "Whatever and Ever Amen." There are only two CDs I can still listen to in their entirety after years and years of rotation on my various CD players. Weezer's Blue Album is the other one, and I love you, Blue Album, I do, but you don't have a song titled, "Kate," so you don't win the big prize of My Favorite CD Ever, but hey, don't look so down, little guy. Second place is an honor!
Ben Folds Five split up almost immediately after I really became aware of how much love I had for them in my heart. It was a terrible moment when I realized I would never get to see them play live, but then Ben Folds came out with "Rocking the Suburbs" shortly afterward, and I was mollified. I didn't actually buy this CD. My sister's boyfriend at the time burned me a copy, and I would have felt bad for totally ripping off his first solo attempt, except for the fact that I GOT TO SEE HIM LIVE IN BIRMINGHAM later that year. I bought a small turquoise t-shirt that night that I've had to since retire (though I still have it; oh, you know I do) and that t-shirt, by the power of its ability to successfully communicate my aesthetic tastes in music by the words, "Sham on," alone has granted me access to friendships I may have never had otherwise.
Anyway, "Rocking the Suburbs" was good, but Folds's latest release, "Songs for Silverman"--oh man, that CD is SOLID, and good enough so that it grows better and better the more you listen to it. I've been smitten with it ever since it was released earlier this spring. All I can say is I must loves me a good piano man.
I suppose that's it--my Odyssey. Something just seemed to click in my head just now when I listened to his orchestral rendition of "Smoke," and I felt like somehow I'd come full circle, because I remember what it was like to be part of an ensemble of instruments, to be part of what, in the end, makes something that can be beautiful--even, I would argue, transcendently so. And so what if I can't play piano, or sing or play a guitar for crap? I can remember what it was like to be briefly, briefly a musician. It makes me think I have something in common with Ben Folds, and maybe this is silly for me to admit, but that makes me smile.
posted by Kate at 5:25 PM
1 Comments:
Ben Folds played that "Bitches Ain't Shit" song when I saw him in Brooklyn -- funny. And if he uses the footage, you might catch me in a crowd shot from one of the videos for his new cd...it was something about a reunion concert...
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