As of fall 2006, Ben Folds has released five solo LPs. His first album, Fear of Pop: Volume 1, an album of spoken word and instrumental compositions, was recorded and released while Ben Folds Five was still together. Since it was an uncharacteristic release, and officially released under the moniker of 'Fear of Pop', it is widely considered that his first "proper" solo album was Rockin' the Suburbs (2001), on which he played all the instruments by himself. A year later, in 2002, he released Ben Folds Live, a collection of live solo recordings. In late 2003, two solo EPs, Speed Graphic and Sunny 16, were released, with a third entitled Super D released in mid-2004. In 2005, Folds released a second studio album called Songs for Silverman. Most recently Folds has released the album "Supersunnyspeedgraphic, the lp" a compliation of his EPs, a The Bens track called "Bruised," "Still" from the motion picture of 2006 "Over the Hedge" for which Folds wrote all the songs, his cover of the Dr. Dre song "Bitches Ain't Shit", and, with the kind permission of his good friend Neil Hannon, a cover of The Divine Comedy song "Songs of Love". "Supersunnyspeedgraphic, the lp" otherwise includes remastered takes from the three internet EPs from 2002-2004. Ben claims that he wanted to have the CD in hard format so he could "put it past him."
Ben resides in Nashville. He often tours the United States, the United Kingdom, other countries in Europe, Japan, and Australia.
Folds' tours are famous for his solo act as "Ben Folds and a piano", often having the audience become involved by "playing" the accompanying instruments (such as the trumpet and saxophone harmonies in "Army") and singing choir-like backing vocals on "Not the Same". His concerts are charismatic, yet calm - an enjoyable experience for most. And although Folds is constantly putting out new songs, his concerts rarely omit classic fan favorites such as "Philosophy," "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces," and "Army." Also, a seemingly fan favorite that started in Chicago, IL was "Rock this Bitch," a song where Folds has to come up an impromptu new tune with the words "Rock this Bitch" in it; though the song seems to be phasing out, it still makes appearances on tours, such as the November 2006 tour and the Spring US College tour of 2007 and 2008.
Folds also produced and arranged the William Shatner album, Has Been (2004); he previously worked with Shatner on the songs "In Love" and "Still in Love" for Fear of Pop.
Folds described his former band, Ben Folds Five, as "punk rock for sissies," and his oddball lyrics often contain nuances of depression, melancholy and self-conflict. Folds also provided a number of songs for film soundtracks. Some of these include "Lonely Christmas Eve" for the Jim Carrey film How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2000), and a rendition of the Beatles' "Golden Slumbers" for the film I Am Sam (2001). He (as The Bens) has also done charity compilations, from singing "Wicked Little Town" (from film and stage show Hedwig and the Angry Inch) on the benefit album "Wig in a Box" (2003) to appearing on No Boundaries, a benefit album for Kosovo refugees, with the song "Leather Jacket." (written by Darren Jessee)
On a planned tour of Australia, Folds teamed up with solo artists Ben Kweller and Ben Lee to travel the country together as The Bens, at the suggestion of a fan on Ben Kweller's official website. The trio also went on to record a four-track EP together, entitled The Bens.
In summer of 2004, Folds co-headlined an American tour with fellow rockers Rufus Wainwright and Guster. His second solo studio album, entitled Songs for Silverman, was released in the U.S. on April 26, 2005, featuring Jared Reynolds on bass, and Lindsay Jamieson on the drums, thus returning to the trio format, which had been so successful earlier, in earnest. This album includes the track "Late," a tribute to the late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, and also features backing vocals from "Weird Al" Yankovic on "Time." (Folds had played piano for Yankovic's song "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?" and "Weird Al" directed Folds' music video for Rockin' the Suburbs). In January of 2007 Lindsay Jamieson left the band and was replaced by Sam Smith, of The Comfies on drums.
Folds performed with Rufus Wainwright and Ben Lee in the summer of 2005 as part of the "Odd Men Out" tour. In addition, Folds has performed with many other famous musical names, including Weezer. Folds has also shown the complexity behind his authentic sound by performing with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, in March 2005, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, in November 2005. A DVD recording of Folds playing with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra was released in December, 2005.
Folds was the first artist to do a "Live at Myspace" concert, held on October 24, 2006 in his recording studio in Nashville, the show was an hour long and had requests from the internet submitted via Myspace's Messenger. It also entailed several stunts, including a suicide attempt, and a falling audience member during "Jesusland". The DVD of the broadcast (almost whole) was released in February of 2007.
Folds supports the independent music scene, creating his own record label (Attacked By Plastic) and doing promotional work for independent record stores across the country.
In 2008, September 16 marked the release of Amanda Palmer's solo album which was produced by Folds. Two days following that release, Ben Folds Five had a one-time reunion concert held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the same place the band was formed. Weeks later, he released his third solo album entitled Way To Normal, released on September 30. Folds also recorded a fake album that was leaked intentionally during the summer to please fans and in an attempt to stop the real album from leaking. The fake tracks were recorded and mixed over a period of only several days. The leak contained 6 fake songs with names similar to the real songs or the album, and three songs from the actual release (except the song Cologne, which was an orchestral version of a song by the same name on the final album).
Since December 2008, Folds has been collaborating with English novelist Nick Hornby, writing the music while Hornby writes the lyrics. This album was originally planned to be recorded over a course of 3 days, the same amount of time in which the fake album was recorded, but Folds has since been recording the album in a more standard format, albeit attempting to retain the live recording format. He has also played several songs from the upcoming album at live shows since mid-2009, and the album is slated to be released on September 27th of 2010.
From December 14 through 21, 2009, Folds was featured as a judge on NBC's a cappella competition The Sing Off alongside Nicole Scherzinger and Shawn Stockman and offered insightful, constructive comments and criticisms to the contestants. On the final show, in a departure from his a cappella purism, showcased his talents and played the roaring, riffing piano background on "Why Can't We Be Friends?" sung by the two finalist groups, Tufts Beelzebubs from Tufts University near Boston and Nota, from San Juan, Puerto Rico. He again returned for the show's second season, and has been confirmed to return for the third season in September 2011 alongside Stockman and new judge Sara Bareilles.
Recently Ben Folds was assumed to be the anonymous pianist playing songs to random ChatRoulette users, named "Merton." Although Ben Folds has admitted to NOT being Merton, he paid tribute to the YouTube star at a concert in Charlotte in "Ode To Merton."
Ben Folds recently released his first album since So There, What Matters Most in June of 2023 after a 12 year hiatus.
The Secret Life of Morgan Davis
Ben Folds Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
she wants to sleep
but all that Morgan Davis wants is cream of wheat
he wakes and then she turns out the light
he tiptoes through the darkness and slips into the night
the boring life that he leads of buying and
selling stocks makes him feel
just the passing time in this boring life
he wants the lights the jazz
a piece of ass
a toothless bitch to blow him for a vial of crack
he cooks the junk in some Gatorade
he scores a bag of chronic on the east mlk
the secret life that he leads of buying and
selling drugs keeps him up at night
he's selling cash screwing trailer trash
and he's making cash
it's a whoring life
my friends are all salesman
my wife is a slut
there must be something bigger I can stick in my butt
the IRS is auditing
my life's in a rut!
And so he's fired his heat
he's blowed his blow
it's coming up on sunrise and it's time to go
he smells like barf his hair's a mess
he wipes the coke and lipstick off his fat hairy chest
he stumbles home from a lezzie show
he'll be at work in an hour or so
he crawls in bed with his sleeping wife
just a night to break up his boring life
The Secret Life of Morgan Davis is a song by Ben Folds that muses about the secret life a man leads as he tries to escape from the mundaneness of his existence. In the first verse, we are introduced to Morgan Davis who wants cream of wheat while his wife sleeps. Morgan Davis is not like other men who tiptoe in during the night to sleep with their wives; he slips “into the night” and seeks adventure. He is tired of the boring life of buying and selling stocks, which in his opinion, makes him feel old and drained.
In the second verse, Morgan Davis’s secret life is exposed. Fueled by an addiction to drugs, he lives a fast and dangerous life. He seeks the lights, jazz, sex, and drugs as a form of escape from his monotonous life. He sells drugs and sleeps with “trailer trash” to make money to fuel his habits. He lives a whoring life. The chorus of the song repeats the phrase “the secret life that he leads” as we are given a window into the duality of his life.
The third verse starts with Morgan Davis lamenting about his current predicament. He feels stuck, with a promiscuous wife, friends who are all salesmen, and the IRS auditing him. He has reached a dead-end. In the final moments of his secret life, he is coming up on sunrise, smells like barf, and looks a mess. He crawls back to his wife, hoping that his secret life would provide some reprieve from the monotony of his daily existence.
Line by Line Meaning
His wife is tired
His partner is exhausted
she wants to sleep
She needs rest
but all that Morgan Davis wants is cream of wheat
He feels unsatisfied with his life and desires simplicity
he wakes and then she turns out the light
He wakes up after she goes to sleep
he tiptoes through the darkness and slips into the night
He tries to avoid making noise and sneaks out
the boring life that he leads of buying and
selling stocks makes him feel
he's growing old and tired there's no joy in life
just the passing time in this boring life
He has a monotonous, unfulfilling job that makes him feel old and drained, with no real enjoyment or sense of purpose
he wants the lights the jazz
a piece of ass
a toothless bitch to blow him for a vial of crack
he cooks the junk in some Gatorade
he scores a bag of chronic on the east mlk
He craves excitement, sex, and drugs, and goes to great lengths to indulge in them
the secret life that he leads of buying and
selling drugs keeps him up at night
he's selling cash screwing trailer trash
and he's making cash
it's a whoring life
He lives a double life of selling drugs, having sex with strangers, and making money through unethical means
my friends are all salesman
my wife is a slut
there must be something bigger I can stick in my butt
the IRS is auditing
my life's in a rut!
He's dissatisfied with his surroundings, from his friends and partner to his financial troubles, and craves something bigger and better
And so he's fired his heat
he's blowed his blow
it's coming up on sunrise and it's time to go
he smells like barf his hair's a mess
he wipes the coke and lipstick off his fat hairy chest
After a night of partying, drinking, and drug use, he prepares to leave before the sun rises, trying to clean up his appearance
he stumbles home from a lezzie show
he'll be at work in an hour or so
he crawls in bed with his sleeping wife
just a night to break up his boring life
He returns home from a night of debauchery, but has to quickly get ready for work, and uses his nightly escapades as a way of breaking the monotony of his life
Contributed by William Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
EmmaLikesFish
Such an an amazing song. He said he wrote it in like, half an hour.
Jennifer Newheiser
honestly one of my favorite ben folds songs - crazy to me that it isn't more well known!
Percy Gloverfold
hes been playing it live recently. this guy could seriously put on a show with just songs that didnt make the albums and you'd have a top notch show
way too late
I NEED BEN TO WRITE A MUSICAL ASAP
Cliché Guevara
He's witten enough material, much of it from a personal perspective, that you coukld probably assemble a damn good musical from the existing material...like Queen did with We Will Rock You.
The obvious title would be We Will Rock This Bitch.
way too late
David Nicholson I like this idea
Bruce Wayne
Will I'VE BEEN WRITING ONE
Christopher Johnson
Listen to 'Sincerely Me' from Dear Evan Hansen... basically if Ben Folds wrote a musical!
PianoShapedObject
He played this when I saw him in April, I'd never heard it before then. Great stuff!
Eric Near
I see what Ben means when he says this is a way intense version. The version on Best Imitation of Myself is a bit tamer sounding. I think it's just the way the orchestra is mixed.