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(YouTube) Strange In case you wondered why this song was never a hit: the video for "Kate" by Ben Folds Five   (youtube.com) divider line 37
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3009 clicks; posted to Music » on 01 Mar 2008 at 10:10 PM   |  Make this a Fark FavoriteFavorite    |   share: Share on OMGTWITTER WEB2.0share on StumbleUponshare on Facebook  more»   |    Get this fabulous T-Shirt and impress the methane out of your friends! shirt it!

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Wabash 2008-03-01 08:04:04 PM  
Great song but that video was ridiculously ghey.

 
Keigh 2008-03-01 08:13:11 PM  
i LOVE this song. I just pretend they're saying "Keigh" and then it's even better.

the vid? full of teh ghey.

/this song is why i bought and read the bhagavad gita

 
kronicfeld [TotalFark] 2008-03-01 08:33:49 PM  
Pretty great song. Ben Folds is incredible.

 
tallguywithglasseson [TotalFark] 2008-03-01 09:08:53 PM  
Love this song and album.

Video is teh funnay, but... can see why didn't make mainstream.

 
QU!RK1019 2008-03-01 09:18:08 PM  
I always thought that the song wasn't a hit because it was brilliant, and mtv/radio is only interested in playing utter shiat. :)

 
MickeyD [TotalFark] 2008-03-01 09:28:47 PM  
My name is Kate, so I'm getting a kick out of this thread

 
Gulper Eel [TotalFark] 2008-03-01 10:09:51 PM  
The Bangles should have done a video all in bed like that.

 
chrisco123 [TotalFark] 2008-03-01 10:40:08 PM  
That damn Ben Folds is the reason that I'm taking piano lessons at 41. Fark, he's good. In fact, he's the best I've ever heard.

 
clod9 2008-03-01 11:00:19 PM  
dear god... I have always wanted to hit the members of Ben Folds Five and this video just seals the deal

 
clod9 2008-03-01 11:01:31 PM  
// as in i'd hit it
/not punch them or anything hahah

 
Emac09 2008-03-01 11:10:13 PM  
I like this song. Just wanted to put that in writing.

/I particularly am just as enthusiastic towards his song "Song for the Dumped".
//Give me my money back, you biatch.

 
dmax 2008-03-01 11:31:50 PM  
This is probably my favorite BFF song, just because of its cuteness and it's massively amazing chord structures. It is SO Bacharach-like I'm in awe: comfortable, creative, melodic, and humorous.

Freakin bril.

But I'm not gonna watch the vid. No sense loving it less.

 
duncangonuts 2008-03-01 11:59:42 PM  
Down by Rosemary and Cameron...

That line has always bothered me a little. Those two streets run parallel and are a couple blocks apart in Chapel Hill, so where the hell was Kate?

 
frostus [TotalFark] 2008-03-02 12:06:16 AM  
My wife started listening to Ben Folds and their songs snuck into my brain and pop up at unexpected times. The one that got me originally hooked was Song For The Dumped but now
I enjoy listening to just about anything they've done.

 
lazarustaxon 2008-03-02 12:17:52 AM  
Ahhh, Ben Folds: Rockin Feel Good Songs, Something In My Eye Sentimental Songs, and a bunch of crap in between.


//that is all.
//a fan.

 
Martstar 2008-03-02 01:35:32 AM  
Keigh:
/this song is why i bought and read the bhagavad gita

This song is why I bought and listened to Whatever and Ever Amen and everything else the man ever put out. Heard it in a coffee shop freshman year of college, and this song finally convinced me to check these guys out. I've been a fan ever since, and he still continues to put out great stuff. His performance with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra is a must see for any fan. But anyhoo, I could sing his praises all night....

 
Dialectic 2008-03-02 01:43:55 AM  
I need to know: where can I get the training to be gay like that?

 
reverend_riggs 2008-03-02 01:52:21 AM  
Emac09: I
//Give me my money back, you biatch.


///And don't forget to give me back my black t-shirt.

 
kth [TotalFark] 2008-03-02 02:05:41 AM  
The day this album came out a friend of mine accosted me at school and declared that there was a song about me. heh. I'd seen them at Lollapalooza the year before and loved them (second stage, front row). That man does bad things to a piano.

For my money, the best song on the album was Steven's Last Night in Town, although Song for the Dumped is fun. Especially since I'd stolen my ex's favorite black t-shirt on my way out the door.

 
Genesius [recently expired TotalFark] 2008-03-02 02:45:33 AM  
Great song, great artist.

/Fan.
//Army is my favorite.
///Slashies while drunk FTW.

 
MusicMakeMyHeadPound 2008-03-02 03:04:03 AM  
Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 
That_Bob_Guy 2008-03-02 03:10:27 AM  
I have visions of him locking himself in a room with a piano and a metronome playing scales for 18 hours at a time.

This man is a machine.

Of course the video is gay!

 
gkyaun 2008-03-02 04:35:46 AM  
seeing him next week in Fl. im friggin stoked.

 
Kyosuke [TotalFark] 2008-03-02 08:55:06 AM  
"Where's your other hand."

"Between two pillows."

"THOSE AREN'T PILLOWS!!!"

\See that Bears game last week?

 
Welcome to the Machine [TotalFark] 2008-03-02 10:37:24 AM  
Kate is a great song.
Song for the dumped is one of the greatest songs EVER!! Seen him twice, but never as a headliner. He was still better than the acts after.

/Old guys for good music FTW

 
fuzzwell [TotalFark] 2008-03-02 01:28:28 PM  
SONG FOR THE DUMPED (new window)

Great song.

I'd never heard this version before.

 
Godzilla [TotalFark] 2008-03-02 03:12:23 PM  
That_Bob_Guy: This man is a machine.

I hear from the locals that he's an amazing drummer too.

 
ridcullylives 2008-03-02 03:22:15 PM  
Godzilla: That_Bob_Guy: This man is a machine.

I hear from the locals that he's an amazing drummer too.


Yeah, he was a studio bassist/drummer for a long time before BFF. He considers himself better at both of those than at piano. He did all the drum and bass tracks on Rockin' the Suburbs.

The man has got to be one of the most talented musicians out there. I love him, I love this song, and I love this album.

/subby

 
carmody 2008-03-02 03:57:54 PM  
I saw BFF live about ten years ago and though I wasn't a big fan going into it, I have to admit that it remains one of the top five or ten live shows I have ever seen. Out of hundreds.

By the way, the drummer wrote "Song for the Dumped," not Ben.

 
krakon04 2008-03-02 04:28:02 PM  
B*tches 'aint Sh*t (new window)

NSFW language, in case that was a mystery.

 
sound of a douchebag hitting the floor 2008-03-02 05:10:54 PM  
This interview should explain the whole video.

 
liquidlen [TotalFark] 2008-03-02 05:25:28 PM  
Something about long takes = enjoyment for me.

/too dumb to be truly artsy-fartsy
//well, maybe not too dumb to be fartsy

 
Donald_McRonald 2008-03-02 10:52:55 PM  
Give me my 3 minutes, you biatch.

 
MaxxLarge [TotalFark] 2008-03-03 01:12:58 AM  
Godzilla: I hear from the locals that he's an amazing drummer too.

He actually went to college on a percussion scholarship.

Ben Folds is one of the few artists alive who makes life worth living. Brilliant isn't a strong enough word...I actually have a legitimate emotional reaction to his music that's really hard to describe.

 
DjangoStonereaver [TotalFark] 2008-03-03 01:29:50 AM  
I understand that he's talented with many instruments, but I just
don't get Ben Folds. To me, he's in the same league as James
Blunt, or Robbie Robertson or Dave Matthews or Maroon 5 or (fill
in the name of any geeky looking white guy musician whose been
lauded as a genius by the inbred rock journalism industry for the
past 10 years). They seem just as disoposable as the hip hop
flavor of the month, or the latest Britneyoid.

This song doesn't do it for me, even without the video.

Please, tell me what I'm missing....

 
puckrock2000 2008-03-03 10:12:59 AM  
Kinda reminded me of this video. (new window)

 
ridcullylives 2008-03-03 12:12:44 PM  
DjangoStonereaver: I understand that he's talented with many instruments, but I just
don't get Ben Folds. To me, he's in the same league as James
Blunt, or Robbie Robertson or Dave Matthews or Maroon 5 or (fill
in the name of any geeky looking white guy musician whose been
lauded as a genius by the inbred rock journalism industry for the
past 10 years). They seem just as disoposable as the hip hop
flavor of the month, or the latest Britneyoid.

This song doesn't do it for me, even without the video.

Please, tell me what I'm missing....


Allow me to respond here.

First of all, what respectable rock journalist has ever called James Blunt or Adam Levine (Maroon 5) a genius? I've actually never even seen anything journalistic about James Blunt that didn't tear him to shreds.

Second of all, Robbie Robertson? The guy from The Band? a) The Band is awesome, and b) I don't think the rock press has had much to say about him for the past ten years.

Third, Ben Folds is far from disposable. Sure, he's only had a few brushes with true mainstream success (and only one huge hit), but the man has been turning out quality music for more than a decade, even when he's not in the public eye.

Fourth, he's an absolute virtuoso on the piano--one of the greatest, if not THE greatest players of that instrument in the pop/rock vein. He's also an incredibly talented and reliable drummer and bassist. James Blunt may have played all the instruments on his album, but none of the stuff is particularly difficult or interesting. Compare that to something like "Zak and Sara" or the jam-out at the end of "Rockin' the Suburbs."

Fifth, he's a truly great songwriter. I can't bring to mind any person who has reliably turned out music as well-written, witty, complex, and interesting so consistently over the past ten years. If you don't like the music (and many don't), that's fine...there are plenty of things about it that irritate me from time to time. Saying you don't like the songs he writes is very different than saying that he has no talent in writing them, or that he's somehow comparable to James Blunt.

 
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