Ben Folds
Ben Folds
Benjamin Scott "Ben" Foldsis an American singer-songwriter and record producer. From 1995 to 2000, Folds was the frontman and pianist of the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five. After the group temporarily disbanded, Folds performed as a solo artist and has toured all over the world. The group reunited in 2011. He has also collaborated with musicians such as William Shatner, Regina Spektor and "Weird Al" Yankovic and undertaken experimental songwriting projects with authors such as Nick Hornby and Neil...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth12 September 1966
CityWinston-Salem, NC
CountryUnited States of America
I've gotten to the point where I realize that I need to tell my truth in music and not walk around blabbing my mind.
The main thing is that we performed the songs, then went to the speakers - if we liked it, we kept it; if we didn't, then we did it again. That seems like the most obvious way to record, but it really isn't the way we make records in this day and age. This is just very old-fashioned.
I had to play a George Harrison song at a benefit a couple nights ago, and it was really hard for me. Obviously it wasn't my world.
It's not safe, but yeah, I can flip a piano over. You take it on this side where there's not really as much weight.
I was pretty much a dork growing up. Going up in front of a crowd and being an idiot was a relief when I was a kid. But talking to two or three people at once and being myself was impossible. And being myself while singing a song was more than impossible; I would've rather died. I get really nervous and tend to want to be an idiot.
My job is to be some sort of music/lyric psychic, to figure out that that's the right song to not fight the lyric.
People rush around in the summer to try and find like-minded musicians to put together. Packages are all the rage. I prefer keeping it smaller, having a tour that's manageable -- both for me and the audience -- and Rufus and I go together in certain ways. We're both out of step with any kind of music scene. We don't really fit in anywhere. I think we feel similarly disenfranchised -- in a good way. Also, I can listen to Rufus every night. That's important.
Life barrels on like a runaway train where the passengers change, they don't change anything, you get off someone else can get on.
A lot of 18-year-olds are like old men. They think they've seen everything.
I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you.
I feel like a quote out of context, withholding the rest so I can be for you what you want to see.
I do think that when you make repeated mistakes, it's usually because you're just not coming to grips with something.
And all I really want to say is you're the reason I want to stay.
I do have that mindset - that most good art comes from some turmoil, from someone trying to come to some equilibrium, or come up and get a breath.