The Battle for Who Could Care Less

Ben Folds.  He is a pianist.  He is a vocalist.  He is a guitarist.  He plays a lot of instruments.  He’s been recording solo for over a decade now, having more or less disbanded the Ben Folds Five (a pity really…Robert Sledge is a killer bassist).  But most of all to me, Ben Folds is a showman.  My wife says he can’t sing.  Sure, he’s not Billy Joel or Elton John, but he’s not terrible.  I’ve certainly heard worse.

I heard Ben Folds Five’s “Battle for Who Could Care Less” and was instantly reminded why I love listening to Ben Folds’ music.  He injects fun into his songs in a way that some bands just cannot do.  I’ve unfortunately only seen him perform once, which was at the Big Shindig in Raleigh, NC, back in 1998, but I’ll never forget the scene.  The Ben Folds Five were the last band to play if I remember correctly, and they played many songs from their album Whatever and Ever Amen, which was in regular rotation for me at the time.  There wasn’t a song on that album I didn’t like, so to hear them live was a treat.  At the end the band jammed out, and Folds proceeded to stand up to play ala Jerry Lee Lewis and ultimately slammed his piano stool into the piano repeatedly until the music was over.  But in between the time they started until that destructive finale, I was mesmerized.

Listen to “Battle for Who Could Care Less” and tell me that’s not a fun song.  Or try “Song for the Dumped”.  Folds channels all these feelings that are all too representative of a male’s teenage and college years—getting dumped, dumping someone, getting drunk and trashing a party, being lazy—into many of the Ben Folds Five songs.  When he went solo, his lyrics were more mature and indicative of what an adult male would go through, but the fun hasn’t been lost.  He’s still got the adolescent rebelliousness in him (see “Bastard” from Songs for Silverman or “B*tches Ain’t Sh*t” off of Supersunnyspeedgraphic, the LP), but a lot of times that’s tempered by the reality around him (see “Gracie” off of Songs for Silverman or “Kylie from Connecticut” from Way to Normal).

You’re not going to get Lennon/McCartney here or Brian Wilson or other songwriters with an ability to write music that seems timeless with Folds’ music.  And I’m sure for some people Folds’ music will be too juvenile to try.  But I urge you to listen to him play.  Try to feel the energy that went into the songs.  There is something there in Ben Folds’ music that I think could appeal to just about anyone.