Ben
Folds Five news
Sept. 2012. The
newly-reunited Ben Folds Five releases a new album, The Sound of
the Life of the Mind, and launches their first tour in over a
decade. The Magical Armchair has the
tour dates.
Stuff on this site
• Ben Folds Five FAQ
• MP3 of me sitting in
with BF5 on "Best Imitation of Myself"
• Order albums and sheet
music
• Chord charts for some songs
• My lousy MIDI recording of Best Imitation
• Similarities between BF5 songs and other songs
• A Who's Who Guide to Ben Folds Five
• Interviews with the band from the 1990s
• BF5 Haikus
• Picture of my BF5 tattoo
• The piano market (piano stocks)
• BF5's shows in Austin
• SXSW 1996 concert photos
Other sites
• The band's official site
• Magical Armchair (well-known fansite)
• Wikipedia article about the band
• Lyrics at BestLyrics.com
• Misheard lyrics
• Ragogna interview, Oct. 2012. Excellent interview with Ben; touches on some technical aspects of the music as well as the meaning behind some of the lyrics.
• BF5 All Together Now. Japanese fan site, in
English & Japanese. Doesn't seem to have been updated since
2000, but has some cool GIF animations of the band.
• The Strangest Thing. This large fansite died
in 2002, but here's the archive.
• 1997 interview
• Hotel
Lights. Darren Jessee's critically-acclaimed other band
• ChuckFolds.com.
Ben's brother's site about his own music
• Phil's Finest Hour was an Australian band with a
BF5-like sound. Unfortunately they seemed to have disappeared,
and I can't find any recordings of them listed anywhere.
Ben
Folds Five timeline
1966. Ben born on
Sept. 12.
Mid-1980s. If
the song "Army" is truly
autobiographical, Ben works at Chik-Fil-A, contemplates joining the
army, and plays in an unsuccessful band.
~1987-90. Ben
forms Majosha with Millard
Powers. Band wins a "Battle of the Bands" contest.
1994. Band forms in
Chapel Hill, NC, with Folds,
Darren Jessee on drums, and Robert Sledge on bass guitar.
1995. Debut
eponymous album on Caroline Records.
"Underground" is a semi-hit single.
1996. The band gets
a large following in Japan, courtesy of a
Japanese TV drama in which one of the characters is a big fan, but gets
a lot less attention the U.S.
1997. Second album, Whatever
and Ever Amen.
The single "Brick" launches the band to stardom, and "Song for the
Dumped" and "Battle of Who Could Care Less" hits the Top 25.
1998. Ben releases
his first solo album, Fear
of Pop, though Ben Folds Five is still going strong.
1999. Third album, The
Unauthorized Biography
of Reinhold Messner. "Army" charts in the Top 20.
2000. The band
breaks up amicably in October. The bandmembers' projects
post-breakup aren't detailed here; instead see the Wikipedia articles
about Ben,
Darren, and
Robert.)
2005. A remastered
and expanded edition of Whatever and Ever Amen is released,
including seven new bonus tracks.
2008. The band
reunites for a single show in Chapel Hill. (NME)
2011. The band reunites to
record three new songs for the compilation album The Best Imitation
of Myself: A Retrospective.
2012. The band releases their fourth
studio album, The Sound of the Life of the Mind, and begins
their first tour in over a decade.
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Chords to "Video
Killed the Radio Star"
by Bruce Woolley, Trevor Horn, and Geoff Downes
©1979 Carlin Music Corporation
& Island Music Ltd.
All Rights for the U.S.A. & Canada controlled by Carbert Music,
Inc. (BMI) & Ackee Music, Inc. (ASCAP)
All rights reserved.
This is a late 70's song that Ben
Folds Five covered in their early days. (The band has said they
don't
have much interest in continuing to play it.) BF5's version was
slated to be on a CD compilation of One Hit Wonders, but that CD was
never released.
The band that originally made this
song famous was The Buggles. Their keyboard player would go on to
play with early 80's supergroup Asia (also featuring members of ELP
and Yes), and he and another Buggle would also join Yes. "Video
Killed the Radio Star" was prophetic, becoming popular just a couple
of years before the debut of MTV. And ironically, it was the first
song ever aired on MTV (in December 1981).
I got the following chords from a
sheet music compilation book called "Big 80 Songbook" which I
purchased in 1979. (I was born in '67.)
A reader wrote to say that he
played the chords below along with the recordings (both Buggles and
BF5) and that the
chords listed below are all a half-step sharp (e.g., the opening
Em/G
printed below is actually played as Ebm/Gb), so you'll need to
transpose a half-step down if you want this to be in the same key as
the recordings. —Michael Bluejay, 4-98
Intro: Em/G D/F# Em7 Dmaj7
Em/G D/F# Em7 A
D/F# G6 Asus4 A
I heard you on the wire-less back in fifty-two,
D/F# G6 Asus4 A
lying awake intent-ly tuning in on you.
D/F# G6 Asus4 A
If I was young it didn't stop you comin' through.
D/F# G6 Asus4 A
Oh, oh.
They took the credit for your second symphony,
rewritten by machine on new technology.
And now I understand the problems you can see.
D/F# G6 Asus4 A
Oh, oh. I met your children.
D/F# G6 Asus4 A
Oh, oh. What did you tell them?
CHORUS:
D G
Video killed the ra-dio star.
D G
Video killed the ra-dio star.
D A/C# G/B
Pictures came and broke your heart.
Asus4 Bm9
Oh, uh uh uh oh.
And now we meet in an abandoned studio.
We hear the playback and it seems so long ago.
And you remember the jingles used to go:
Oh, oh. You were the first one.
Oh, oh. You were the last one.
(chorus)
In my mind and in my car,
we can't rewind, we've gone too far.
Oh, uh uh uh oh.
Ben Folds Five studio albums
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1st album
(July 25, 1995)
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2nd album
(Mar. 18, 1997)
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3rd album
(Apr. 27, 1999)
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4th album
(Sep. 18, 2012)
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Compilation
albums
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Naked Baby Photos
(Jan. 13, 1998)
live tracks, alternate versions, obscure
covers
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The Best
Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective
(Oct. 11, 2011)
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Sheet Music
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Keyboard Signature Licks
Sheet Music
Order for $23.
Expertly written note-for-note sheet music for selected songs from all four BF5 albums, plus commentary, interviews with Ben about the songs, and a practice CD! Read my review.
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Whatever & Ever Amen
Sheet Music
Order
for $20
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The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner
Sheet Music
Order
for $20.
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Naked Baby Photos. This is a collection of live
& alternate versions and some covers. This is a good source for
songs from the first album since the sheet music for the debut album is
long out of print. Order
for $20.
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