 Genius Lyrics
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Ben Folds Five – Brick
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“Brick” is about a couple going through the stressful process of aborting a pregnancy. Ben Folds has said that this song is autobiographical and describes what he went through
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Ben Folds Five – Philosophy
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On the Naked Baby Photos re-release, the liner notes state (sarcastically) that the song is about Ben Folds’s penis, “if that’s what you think it’s about.”
Interpreting the song
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Ben Folds Five – Regrets
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I thought about sitting on the floor in second grade / I couldn't keep the pace / I thought I was the only one moving in slow motion / While the other kids knew something I did not
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Ben Folds Five – Army
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“Army” is the sixth track on Ben Folds Five’s third studio album. The song details a semi-autobiographical story Ben Folds' life, with the opening lines being based on a true
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Ben Folds Five – Video
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Barren stares as they light up the screen / Bearing teardrops that shatter in slow-motion / Novocaine our brains and we're out like lights / And as I'm growing older, I'm bored / I
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Ben Folds Five – Air
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Saw a silhouette across a fluorescent / Floating overhead, undoing his helmet / Through the murky beams and blue-green sea life / I saw him spinnin' towards the moonlight / I pull
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Ben Folds Five – Mess
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Was a time when I had nothing to explain / Oh, this mess I have made / But then things got complicated / My innocence has all but faded / Oh, this mess I have made / And I don't
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Ben Folds Five – Smoke
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Off of their sophomore album Whatever and Ever Amen, Ben Folds Five relates a tale of a relationship that met a messy end, with the narrator ridding himself of all the memories
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Ben Folds Five – Underground
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[Intro] / Darren: I was never cool in school / I'm sure you don't remember me / Robert: And now it's been ten years / I'm still wondering who to be / Ben: But I'd love to mix in
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Ben Folds Five – Battle of Who Could Care Less
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[Verse 1] / Do you not hear me anymore? / I know it's not your thing to care / I know it's cool to be so bored / It sucks me in when you're aloof / It sucks me in, it sucks it
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Ben Folds Five – Kate
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[Verse 1] / She plays "Wipeout" on the drums / The squirrels and the birds come / Gather around to sing the guitar / Oh, I... Have you got nothing to say? / [Verse 2] / When all
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Ben Folds Five – Evaporated
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The last track on 1997’s Whatever and Ever Amen.
A hidden track appears after this song, with the band’s roadie Leo Overtoom:
I’ve got your hidden track right here: Ben Folds is
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Ben Folds Five – Cigarette
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“Cigarette” is a very brief vignette into the life of an everyday man named Fred Jones, as he struggles to deal with his wife’s illness. Fred Jones would later be revisited by Ben
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Ben Folds Five – Magic
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“Magic” is the 4th track on Ben Folds Five’s 1999 album The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner.
The lyrics were written by Darren Jessee, BF5’s drummer.
“That song is
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Ben Folds Five – Song for the Dumped
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“Song for the Dumped” is a breakup song. The singer rants in an honest and explicit way about the girl who just dumped him. The simplicity of his anger makes the song powerful. He
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Ben Folds Five – Narcolepsy
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The opening track on The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, Ben Folds Five’s final studio album. According to Entertainment Weekly:
In what may or may not be a meta-
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Ben Folds Five – Hold That Thought
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She broke down and cried / At the strip mall acupuncturist / While the world went on outside / The Chinese doctor took her arm / Gazed at the floor and read her wrist / For the
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Ben Folds Five – Fair
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[Verse 1] / He shouted out his last word / And he stumbled through the yard / And she shattered her last china plate / And spun off in the car / [Verse 2] / When he lunged onto the
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Ben Folds Five – The Last Polka
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A song about the collapse of a marriage and the passive aggressive ways the man and woman ignore what’s staring them right in the face. Interestingly, the song was co-written with
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Ben Folds Five – Uncle Walter
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This song is the fictional narrative of Ben Folds being left with his friend’s alcoholic uncle, Walter. Who is a tale-telling drunk who rants about the problems with the country
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Ben Folds Five – Mitchell Lane
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Habit isn't bliss / Sunshine isn't missed / Happy when you're cold / Wanna be alone / He's a lot of steam / She's a lot of breath / Takes a lot to see / Takes a lot to beg / And it
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Ben Folds Five – Julianne
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The song “Julianne” was written to make fun of the classic 90s grunge songs that talked about failed relationships and the denial at the pain he feels, even though he “doesn’t miss
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Ben Folds Five – Boxing
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The last song on Ben Folds Five is an imaginary conversation between sports reporter Howard Cosell and boxer Muhammad Ali. The singer takes the perspective of Ali.
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Ben Folds Five – Jackson Cannery
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“Jackson Cannery” is the first song that the band ever recorded. The band recorded it as a single for a tiny independent label rather than produce a demo tape. The strategy
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Ben Folds Five – Selfless, Cold and Composed
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“Selfless, Cold & Composed” deals with the complex and bitter emotions associated with the breakup of one of Ben’s long-term relationships, although he has stated in the past that
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Ben Folds Five – Sky High
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Shattered at dawn, so far for so long / Feeling newly baptized / Thinking I don’t want this thing to end / And all the blue sky / Where our stony paths meet / Coffee-coloured
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Ben Folds Five – Erase Me
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[Verse 1] / What was our home? / Paper, not stone / A lean-to, at most / And when you pulled / Your half away / Gravity won / Like it always does / Did I weigh a ton? / Would it be
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Ben Folds Five – Steven's Last Night in Town
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The song is about Folds' friend Stephen Short. Short is an English record producer who has worked with artists including Paul McCartney and Wings, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins of
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Ben Folds Five – Draw a Crowd
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[Intro] / Ah-ah-ah, ah / Ah, ah, ah, ah / Damn / [Verse 1] / I ordered something, it took a while / This morning something was on my doorstep / What's this I'm holding? Time
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Ben Folds Five – Alice Childress
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[Verse 1] / Some summers in the evening after 6 or so / I walk on down the hill / And maybe buy a beer / I think about my friends / Sometimes I wish they lived out here / But they
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Ben Folds Five – Do It Anyway
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Do It Anyway Lyrics: You might put your love and trust on the line / It's risky, people love to tear that down, let 'em try / Do it anyway / Risk it anyway ...
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Ben Folds Five – Jane
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Jane be Jane / You're better that way / Not when you're trying / Imitating something you think you saw / Jane be Jane / And if sometimes that might / Drive them away / Let them
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Ben Folds Five – Emaline
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This song was recorded for BFF’s debut but was ultimately rejected for including guitar, which they were trying to avoid.
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Ben Folds Five – Where's Summer B.?
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I'd like to tell ya, like to tell ya / Tell ya everything / 'Cause nothing changes, ever changes / Doesn't seem the same these days / Dave's been a mess since Cheryl left / Just
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Ben Folds Five – One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces
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“One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces” is the lead track on Ben Folds Five’s 1997 album Whatever and Ever Amen.
The song is a triumphant, raucous and bitter “up yours” song
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Ben Folds Five – Best Imitation of Myself
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I feel like a quote out of context / Withholding the rest / So I can be for you what you want to see / I've got the gesture and sounds / Got the timing down / It's uncanny, yeah
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Ben Folds Five – Missing the War
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“Missing the War” references an emotionally-unsatisfied man and his unsuccessful efforts to build up the courage to leave his partner.
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Ben Folds Five – Sports & Wine
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This song was written in 1995, when the gay-rights movement suddenly gained visibility among the general populace, and led to a bit of a “gay panic” backlash where insecure guys
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Ben Folds Five – Your Redneck Past
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Choose from any number of magazines / Who do you want to be? / Billy Idol or Kool Moe Dee? / If you're afraid they might discover / You redneck past / There are a hundred ways to
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Ben Folds Five – Don't Change Your Plans
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Sometimes I get the feeling / That I won't be on this planet / For very long / I really like it here / I'm quite attached to it / I hope I'm wrong / All I really wanna say / You're
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Ben Folds Five – Amelia Bright
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Hey, something is new / It got into me and I hope that it got into you / The way, like colors like paint / The trumpet's been played / And I hope that it's inside / I hope that it
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Ben Folds Five – Lullabye
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Goodnight, goodnight, sweet baby / The world has more for you / Than it seems / Goodnight, goodnight / Let the moonlight take the lid off your dreams / We took a small flight / In
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Ben Folds Five – House
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There's a sign up in the yard and the, the furniture has gone / Filled with fetid memories unworthy of a song / Flashes of sad and angry faces come and go / Could anyone live
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Ben Folds Five – Your Most Valuable Possession
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This song is based around a rather cryptic recording left on Ben Folds' answering machine by his father, Dean.
Dean took the song in good humour. He was half-asleep and didn’t
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