Songs of the Week

I had an epiphany recently. Not really an epiphany per se, but more of a redirection in my life. This is based on numerous factors of course, but I felt myself languishing a bit. My new “life coach” directed me to a book called “The Success Principles” by Jack Canfield, co-author of all those “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books. I have started to read the book, and I am currently trying to figure out various things, like what I should do with my life for next 65 years or so. Perhaps I will share those things at a later time, but I am still working on the “101 Things to Do Before I Die,” meaning I can’t move onto Chapter 8 in the book until I finish that list.

That being said, there are a couple of Ben Folds songs that express my current opinion on some things. The first was from the Ben Folds Five days; the second is a bit more recent from the “Way to Normal” album.

Song: Underground
Album: Ben Folds Five
Artist: Ben Folds Five

I was never cool in school, I’m sure you don’t remember me,
And now it’s been ten years, I’m still wondering who to be,
I love to mix in circles, cliques, and social coteries, that’s me
Hand me my nose-ring
(can we be happy?)
Show me the mosh pit
(can we be happy?)
We can be happy, underground

Who’s got the looks? Who’s got the brains? Who’s got everything?
I’ve got this pain in my heart, that’s all
Hey you, with the long and lonely face
There’s gotta be something else
There was a girl who passed by, she gave a smile
But I was shy and I looked down
Don’t look down, no, no, go go underground
Now there’s a place to go

It’s the morning now, it’s the evening, it’s everything
I click my heels, and I’m there

Underground, underground, ooh
Everything’s heavy underground
You been kicked around, did life bring you down here?
Everything’s heavy underground

We’ll be decked in all black, slamming the pit fantastic
Officer Friendly’s little boy’s got a mohawk
And he knows just where we’re coming from
It’s industrial, work it underground
Get down, get down, get down, yeah

Underground, underground, ooh
Everything’s heavy underground
You been kicked around, did life bring you down here?
Everything’s heavy underground

We can be happy, we can be happy, we can be happy underground
Oh we can, oh we can, oh we can be
Everything’s heavy!

Song: Frown Song (this link explains what Mr. Folds’ meaning of the song)
Album: Way to Normal
Artist: Ben Folds

Tread slowly from the car to the spa
Like a weary war-torn refugee
Crossing the border with her starving child
It’s a struggle just to get to shiatsu
Present the waitress with your allergy card
and tell all of your problems. Leave no tip at all
Down at the shoe store with your friends
Speculate who might be fucking a guru.

Rock on, rock on with your fashionable frown
Rock on, rock on. Spread the love around.
Rock on, rock on with a fashionable frown.
Spread the love around.

Hard to remember how we managed before
we could afford real and nervous breakdowns
Or before the anthropology storewas erected on Indian burial grounds
So really don’t you see a little of yourself in the bathroom
attendant
that you just scowled at?
Or the child who’s hiding inside as
you wipe the smile off a teenage barista.

Rock on, rock on with my fashionable frown.
Rock on, rock on. Spread the love around.
Rock on, rock on with a fashionable frown.
Spread the love around. Spread the love around. Alright.

You’re gonna be alright, baby.
you’re gonna be alright, baby.

Floating back from the spa to the car.
State of bliss, and it wasn’t the steam room.
Sometimes life’s not so bad.
Now we know who’s been fucking the guru.

Rock on, rock on with a fashionable frown.
Rock on, rock on. Spread the love around.
Rock on, rock on with your fashionable frown.
Spread the love around.
Smile for us now.
Do it upside down.