Ben Folds By Track – Track #5

See here for the idea behind this series of blogs. Here we go onto the next tracks from the Ben Folds (Five) catalog. Even though I was unable to attend the concert on the 17th, I thought I should at least finish this little project, so here we go.

1. “Fred Jones, Part 2” from “Suburbs” – Numerous reasons to like this song, least of which is the lyrics about an old newspaper man getting retired from his job with little fanfare. The second chorus has backup vocals from John McCrea from the band Cake which happens to be one of my favorite bands as well.
2. “Gracie” from “Silverman” – Very nice song written for one of Folds’ twins, namely Gracie. While “Still Fighting It” (Track Three) was written for his son, this song expresses the feelings of being a father to a daughter. One of the songs that I like because I can picture myself saying the same type of things to a daughter if I happen to have one.
3. “Alice Childress” from “Ben Folds Five” – Folds likes to sing songs from the perspective of an observer, and not necessarily in the third person. Alice Childress was a person he knew growing up, and I think this song is trying to convince Ms. Childress that ultimately, everything will be alright. She just needs to get past whatever is making her upset and move on.
4. “Cologne” from “Way to Normal” – There are a couple different versions of this song out there, and the “Piano Orchestra” version is probably the best. But the song itself is about a couple that is obviously separated from each other, and what “pillow talk” might be for people that are in different time zones.
5. “Selfless, Cold and Composed” from “Whatever and Ever Amen” – This song has some of the better piano playing my Folds, especially during the bridge in the middle. The overall arrangement is also very good.
6. “Your Dogs” from “Lonely Avenue” – This album is starting to pick up a bit, and this song kind of helps. Similar to “Alice Childress,” the overall theme of the song is that you shouldn’t listen to others’ opinions of you and just do what you go to do.
7. “Hospital Song” from “Reinhold Messner” – Another short song from Ben Folds, and I think the song suffers a bit because of it. Does have some really nice piano playing though.

Average ranking by album to this point:

1. “Rockin’ the Suburbs” – 1.4 (7)
2. “Whatever and Ever Again” – 3 (15)
3. “Songs for Silverman” – 3.8 (19)
4. “Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner” – 4.2 (21)
5. “Way to Normal” – 4.6 (23)
6. “Ben Folds Five” – 5 (25)
7. “Lonely Avenue” – 6 (30)

Until next time…