I’m taking a short break from theme weeks and using the next five days to feature songs from new or upcoming albums. Wait, I guess that makes this a theme week after all. Oh well.
First up is the second single from Ben Folds’ upcoming album What Matters Most, due out on June 2. On January 4, in a post about new releases expected this year, I wrote “How about a new Ben Folds album, if the universe is taking suggestions?” Apparently the universe was listening.
It’s been eight years since Folds’ last release, and 2015’s So There was more of an EP, dedicating almost half of its running time to an instrumental concerto. Before that was 2010’s Lonely Avenue, a collaboration with author Nick Hornby on which Folds wrote music to accompany Hornby’s lyrics.
I loved that album, but if you want to go back to the last full-length release with both music and lyrics by Folds, you’re landing in 2008 and the somewhat disappointing Way to Normal. That’s 15 years ago!
Folds had this to say about What Matters Most in an interview with American Songwriter:
I come from the vinyl era, and this perhaps more than any record I’ve made is a true album. There’s a very specific sequence and arc to each side, all building up to this almost surreal positive finale, and that structure was really important to me.
That sounds great to me, an old-school album guy myself.
I’m not sure where today’s track fits in to that sequence (ok, I know it’s track three according to Wikipedia, but I don’t know anything about the songs around it). This is a cleverly constructed and catchy story song that leans maybe a little too much into the juvenile territory Folds sometimes indulges.
I hope the rest of the album offers more of the thoughtful and often poignant piano pop I love most from him. First single ‘Winslow Gardens‘ suggests it might.
I woke up in a truck stop parking lot
A girl in a red white and blue halter top was staring
Thick glasses like mine
And a low bored monotone vocal fry (I like that)
She said, who’s the band on the bus? (What bus?)
That one, nerd. The one that you got off of
Oh – probably no one you’ve heard of
[Pre-Chorus]
Don’t know what came over me
As I awkwardly dropped my room key
I said I think that’s yours
And three hours later I was banging this verse out
[Chorus]
Oh no – head meet floor
I don’t wanna do this no more
Every kiss is a jam band solo
Never gonna say YOLO no mo’
My mind says no
My body says hell no
Let this be over
Exhausting lover
[Verse 2]
Not sure if she couldn’t stop
Or if she wouldn’t stop
As the motel carpet gave me five more raw spots
What’s that stabbing my back?
Ah, that’s a wire from her halter top
There was an hour where her head kept banging
Against the bottom of a table top
I saw my life in a split screen
But life’s just one shot
[Pre-Chrous]
What the hell would I tell my girlfriend
But the thing is she’s not my girlfriend anymore
I traded it all for some third degree carpet burn
[Chorus]
Oh no – head meet floor
I don’t wanna do this no more
Every kiss is a jam band solo
Never gonna say YOLO no mo’
My mind says no
My body says hell no
Let this be over
Exhausting lover
[Verse 3]
Then she handed me a Hot Wheels track
I said, girl that’s pretty weird
Where did you get that?
She said never mind that
Here nerd beat my ass in the bath like my dad did
When I was a bad kid
I said, nah what’s this!
Let me up out of the Motel Six
And tell me where my pants went
That’s when I heard the door breaking
It wasn’t housekeeping
It was her boyfriend
[Pre-Chorus]
Don’t know what came over me
Out the door in my boxer briefs
Some dude live tweeted
As I ran half-naked past a Cracker Barrel
[Chorus]
Oh no – head meet floor
I don’t wanna do this no more
Every kiss is a jam band solo
Never gonna say YOLO no mo’
My mind says no
My body says hell no
Let this be over
Exhausting lover
[Outro]
I don’t wanna this no more
Exhausting lover
I don’t wanna do this no more
Meet Me In Montauk 
I am so looking forward to this new album. I like both songs released so far, but agree Winslow Gardens is the meatier of the two.
Well! The instrumental interludes insure (say that 3 times quickly) that this won’t be hitting the charts, but I don’t think Ben really worries about that anyway. I also can’t help but flash back to Wes Anderson’s Rushmore and the Rushmore players onstage presentations. Thanks for this, it brightened my Monday morning.
Excited the universe is listening to your suggestions. I may ask you to request a couple more. This is only the second time I’ve heard this song, and I’ve somehow not yet heard the first single! Still, I’m always eager to hear what Folds has for us.