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 and melody to "Brick" by Ben Folds Five
This transcription by Michael Bluejay, 10-97
(1) The bass and bass piano in this song are usually
just the root
note of the chord (D, G, etc.). So for piano playing, you'll usually
play just the root note (and occasionally its octave) and not a D
chord, or a D9 chord, etc. The chords are written for the benefit of
guitar players who are playing without the help of a soloist (whose
melody combined with the bass notes or plain chords would give the
impression of D9, G6, etc.)
(2) I wrote out only one verse, since the song repeats
itself.
------------------------------------------------------
INTRO:
chords: D D9 G6 D D9 G6
--------------------------------------------
F# F# F# F#
notes: E E E E E E E E
D D D D D D D D D D
A A A A A A A A
--------------------------------------------
chords: D D9 G6 Bm7 Esus E
--------------------------------------------
F# F# F# F#
notes: E E E E E E E
D D D D D D D D D D
A A A A A A A A
G#
--------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
VERSE:
D G6
Six a.m., day after Christmas.
D G6
I throw some clothes on in the dark.
D G6
The smell of cold, car seat is freezing.
D G6
The world is sleeping I am, numb.
...
Bm7 D/G Bm D/G
And we drive. Now that I have found someone.
D G6 Bm7 Esus E
I'm feeling more alone. Than I ever have before.
------------------------------------------------------
CHORUS:
G Asus A/D A/D
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
G Asus A/D A/D A/D G/D
off the coast and I'm head-ing no--where.
last time:Bm7 C# (bass, no chord)
G Asus A/D A/D
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly.
Piano solo (1st time): G A G D
Piano solo (2nd time): G A G A D G D
one octave higher... G A G A D D/G
Piano solo (3rd time): G A G A D G D
------------------------------------------------------
BRIDGE:
E7 G D
As weeks went by it showed that she was not fine.
E7 G D
They told me son, it's time to tell the truth.
E7 G
And she broke down, and I broke down.
D E G
'cause I was tired of lying.
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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