I used to do this big rant at the end of some gigs with Ben Folds Five. The band broke into this big heavy metal thing and I started as a joke to scream in a heavy metal falsetto. I found myself saying things like: Feel my pain, I am white, feel my pain.
BEN FOLDSWhy would I want to sound like Joni Mitchell? I’ve got Joni Mitchell records, and they’re great, and I couldn’t possibly be that good.
More Ben Folds Quotes
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A lot of 18-year-olds are like old men. They think they’ve seen everything.
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Everyone grew up with a piano in their living room, so rocking out on the piano was accessible – it wasn’t an upper-class thing. Now pianos have become very much a piece of furniture.
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The reason I stop playing songs is usually because I get sick of them, and then they find themselves back into the set list at some point.
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I feel like a quote out of context.
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In many ways, I’ve chosen to be plain, almost too plain, too self-effacing. Like, if I record a vocal and I don’t like the way it sounds, I would have them turn it up and take the reverb off it to make it as plain as possible.
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Now that I have found someone, I’m feeling more alone… than I ever have before.
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But I really do have a soft spot for the solo shows. Any musician who writes and sings will tell you that’s the center of it, that is it. It’s almost like there’s something church-like about it and you gotta go back there, if you’re a songwriter that sings your material.
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If the melody is telling me this is what the song is about, then I’m sort of forced into confession, autobiography or fantasy. If I don’t do that, I’ve hamstrung the melody.
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My parents told me I must get married. I was seen as a failure if I didn’t do it.
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Everybody knows it hurts to grow up…and we’re still fighting it.
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Everything I write is personal, really. Even when I’m sarcastic, it’s quite personal. And on this record, from the production to the singing to the performances, I got it really honest.
BEN FOLDS -
The cruelest lies are often told without a word The kindest truths are often spoken, never heard
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It’s like being in the position of – in half of the industry’s mind, you’re kind of a cult-following, independent rocker. And on the other hand, you’re a sellout. But neither one of them are right.
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The nature of honesty is that if someone has information or knows something about you that you don’t want heard, then they have power over you.
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I’m definitely an anomaly, but I’m making things. They’re selling, say, martinis, and I’m kind of making vintage Riesling.
BEN FOLDS