Quotes by Ben Folds - Page 2 | QuoteForever

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I look to an out gay man or woman as pretty much what I would aspire to. The strength that it takes to do that and the floodgates that open and what they pay for it.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Men
Gay
Looks
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With the a cappella groups, every voice is like one string on a guitar, one note on the piano, or one cymbal, and you don't have the luxury of falling back on anything.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Groups
Luxury
Cappella
Falling
Note
String
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If the melody is telling me this is what the song is about, then I'm sort of forced into confession, autobiography or fantasy. If I don't do that, I've hamstrung the melody.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Confession
Fantasy
Song
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Maybe this is wrong, but I feel like I craft my songs carefully enough that I still find that fifteen years after having written one, it still works for me - I'm not cringing.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Fifteen
Carefully
Craft
Me Feel Enough
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I'm romantically inclined. No human being on Earth is not attracted to other people. There is no fairy tale that they only have eyes for you. You just choose to act on it or not.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Earth
Eye
People
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I drink a lot, probably too much. My scene while writing lyrics is always a bottle of scotch and stacks of note cards, pencil and pencil sharpener. I throw around note cards and drink.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Cards
Scotch
Writing
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It's like being in the position of - in half of the industry's mind, you're kind of a cult-following, independent rocker. And on the other hand, you're a sellout. But neither one of them are right.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Hands
Independent
Mind
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My idea is to play with the people who you know want to get it right. Then it's fun and easy to record, and you can get down to details, like taking out cymbals so the verse doesn't dwarf the chorus, something like that.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Chorus
Fun People Know
Verse
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In many ways, I've chosen to be plain, almost too plain, too self-effacing. Like, if I record a vocal and I don't like the way it sounds, I would have them turn it up and take the reverb off it to make it as plain as possible.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Chosen
Records
Self
Sound
Vocal
Plain
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I could probably live in Bali the rest of my life and completely live in the sticks and have a f - king moped and make a record every couple of years and not step in public and break even like I do anyway. That's really tempting.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Kings
Couple
Years
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It's a tough thing to know that when you're making your album, you're going to end up collaborating with, say, Wal-Mart, on your artwork. That just sucks. And the pressure behind getting the numbers real fast is, to me, dizzying.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Artwork
Collaborating
Numbers
Pressure
Real
Album
Fast
Tough Thing
Wal-Mart
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Next door, there's an old man who lived to his nineties and one day passed away in his sleep. And his wife, she stayed for a couple of days and passed away. I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Couple
Next
Old Man
Sleep
Sorry
Wife
Away
Belong
Lived
Days
Old
Day
Door
His
Next Door
Nineties
Passed
She
Stayed
Strange Way
Tell
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I divorce myself from listeners who aren't tolerant of humor. I did notice universally that, especially when it comes to weight, people look in the mirror and get the angle just right, tell themselves it's all right, and then they go out.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Divorce
Mirrors
People
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I used to do this big rant at the end of some gigs with Ben Folds Five. The band broke into this big heavy metal thing and I started as a joke to scream in a heavy metal falsetto. I found myself saying things like: Feel my pain, I am white, feel my pain.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Broke
Gigs
Heavy
Heavy Metal
Pain
Rant
Scream
White
Myself I Am Feel
Ben
Metal
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I think alcohol is a good drug for me when I'm writing. I don't think I've ever had a problem with it. I can stop for a few weeks, so I think it's okay. I don't think it's good for my liver, but I do love it. It's a huge part of my life, and it makes me happy.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Alcohol
Thinking
Writing
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But I really do have a soft spot for the solo shows. Any musician who writes and sings will tell you that's the center of it, that is it. It's almost like there's something church-like about it and you gotta go back there, if you're a songwriter that sings your material.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Church
Musician
Writing
Center
Gotta
Will Your Back
Spot
Sings
Soft
Soft Spot
Writes
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The piano is just a different animal. It's expensive, it's big, it's heavy, and it doesn't fit in the mix easily. Everyone grew up with a piano in their living room, so rocking out on the piano was accessible - it wasn't an upper-class thing. Now pianos have become very much a piece of furniture.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Animal
Class
Piano
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I don't leave my neighborhood. I don't go anywhere. There are four blocks I live in and there are two coffee shops, one at each end of the block... so I don't do much driving... Some people would say they never see me because I don't go anywhere. I stay in the blue state of Nashville, in my bubble.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Block
Coffee
Nashville
Copy Quote
With a song, it only takes a couple of minutes to go back to the beginning and try it again to see if it works. The novel freaks me out because, what if you get into the eighth chapter and think, 'Let's go to the top and see if this works again? It's going to take me three weeks.' I'm in awe of that.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Couple
Song
Writing
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I start songs all the time. If I weren't so lazy, I would finish them. It's like when I have a deadline I have to. I always feel very lucky that I am forced to make records at certain times. If I was forced to make 2 records a year, I would write twice as many songs. I can't make myself finish something unless I am forced
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Song
Writing
Years
Copy Quote
I'm definitely an anomaly, but I'm making things. They're selling, say, martinis, and I'm kind of making vintage Riesling. People aren't going to sit there very often, not your average public, and your average music-business monster is not going to take the time to notice the overtones and the undertones inside the flavor. They'd rather just have the martini.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Average
People
Vintage
Copy Quote
Everything I write is personal, really. Even when I'm sarcastic, it's quite personal. And on this record, from the production to the singing to the performances, I got it really honest. To the modern ear, it seems soft. When you hear it against other things, it seems vulnerable. Lyrically and musically, though, this is more subtle. And, yes, it's asking a lot of someone who's used to being hit over the head with bright neon to listen to this.
Ben Folds / Singer-Songwriter
Sarcastic
Singing
Writing
Copy Quote

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