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Song of the Day #872: ‘Underground’ – Ben Folds Five

This week I continue my exploration of Ben Folds Five’s self-titled debut album, picking up with track six, ‘Underground.’

Following the wistful ‘Where’s Summer B?’ and ‘Alice Childress,’ ‘Underground’ shifts things back toward frivolity. It kicks off with a half-sung, half-spoken intro in which the band members trade off lines about nose rings and mosh pits. They paint a picture of a high school loser who grew up and still hasn’t found his place.

The backing vocals encourage him to come “underground,” presumably to some club scene, where he can “slam the pit fantastic” and finally “be happy.”

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Song of the Day #869: ‘Alice Childress’ – Ben Folds Five

I’ve written before about how I believe great albums have a moment when they become great. A special album is great start to finish, certainly, but there is usually a point almost halfway through when the whole thing just leaps up to another level.

‘Alice Childress’ is that point on Ben Folds Five.

This song is on my short list of favorite Ben Folds tunes, which puts it on my short list of favorite songs by anybody. It’s pretty and profound and deeply moving without ever striving to be important.

One of my favorite things about Ben Folds is that he is the opposite of pretentious — he goes out of his way to write the way people talk. And in the process he often writes far more meaningful songs than people who fancy themselves true poets.

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Song of the Day #868: ‘Where’s Summer B?’ – Ben Folds Five

Following the raucous ‘Julianne’ Ben Folds Five takes another stylistic detour with its laid-back, jazzy fourth track, ‘Where’s Summer B?’

The “Summer” in the title is actually a woman’s name — an old friend named Summer Burke — but it might just as well refer to the season, as this certainly feels like a summer song. It skips along like a kid on a sidewalk chasing the ice cream truck. To quote one YouTube commenter, “you can not be angry and listen to this song at the same time.”

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Song of the Day #867: ‘Julianne’ – Ben Folds Five

Track three of Ben Folds Five takes things in a whole new direction. ‘Julianne’ is a thrash punk screed, complete with crashing bottles in the background. It’s loud, messy and a whole lot of fun.

Folds slurs his way through the lyrics, sounding like he really did wake up after a drunken one night stand before he entered the recording studio.

‘Julianne’ shows just how grungy a piano, bass and drums outfit can be when it wants to. Robert Sledge turns the distortion up on his bass until it sounds like something off of a Nirvana album, Darren Jesse bangs the hell out of his drums and Folds punishes his piano.

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Song of the Day #866: ‘Philosophy’ – Ben Folds Five

I discovered Ben Folds Five around the time their second album, Whatever and Ever Amen, was released. I liked enough of what I read and heard to buy both albums at the same time.

I don’t remember which one I listened to first, but I’m guessing it was the debut. I would have wanted to hear them in order of release, no doubt.

And when I heard that debut album, it was track two — ‘Philosophy’ — that really made my hair stand up on end. This was the song that convinced me I had discovered not just a good new band but a group that would quickly rocket up my list of favorites.

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