One problem: Folds didn't write the lyrics to the song, which appeared on the Ben Folds Five album, Whatever and Ever Amen. Folds' ex-wife, Anna Goodman, did.
"It's the only song that I didn't write the lyrics on that album, I think. Which was funny, and I sent him an e-mail and I said ‘thank you, but I didn't write the lyrics,'" Folds said. "We had a good laugh over that."
As the years went on, and a friendship formed between the two, Hornby's mistake gave the artists inspiration to collaborate.
"I'd written music to someone else's lyrics, so it was really easy for me to say ‘Hey, you can do the same thing. Just give me a set of lyrics and I'll make music out of them,' which I did."
The result is Lonely Avenue, which was released in September of this year. The album features 11 songs with lyrics written by Hornby, accompanied with musical compositions and vocals by Folds. Hornby wrote the lyrics as mini stories and sent them over to Folds, who was surprised at the smoothness of the process.
"I don't mess with the lyrics at all, I don't edit," Folds said. "Nick doesn't have any musical input, he trusts me; we just trust each other to have done our jobs."
The stories told through the lyrics and music range from having a white trash neighbor ("Your Dogs"), to missing your soulmate ("From Above"), and even one through the eyes of America's most notorious baby daddy, Levi Johnston ("Levi Johnston's Blues").
"[T]he poor kid was stuffed into a suit and thrown onstage because there was a teenage pregnancy, and there were politicians involved, so supposedly his life changed and was determined at that time, and that's what Nick was compelled by."
| Ben Folds wsg Lady Danville Orbit Room, Grand Rapids Nov. 7, 6:30 p.m. $25 in advance, $29 day of show orbitroom.com, (616) 942-1328 |
At the time, Folds was not familiar with Johnston, but Hornby did some digging online and discovered Johnston's MySpace page, which sealed the story.
"Levi had this MySpace page that said ‘I'm a f****** redneck, just hanging out with the boys, shootin' moose,' stuff like that. And he thought, ‘Wow, look at the bravado of that page,'" Folds said. "And just being a teenager, and teenage boys being obnoxious - that's what they do - that pitted against a scared kid who's stuffed into a suit onstage."
The result is a catchy song that's humorous, but also takes a closer look at a human that was put in an awkward situation at such a young age. Folds says that he and Hornby are empathetic writers, which is key in the duo's individual success — people are able to understand and relate to their characters.
"We all have to live in these shells of bodies and these undignified things happen, and it's all about heart and being human, and the experience of it," Folds said. "Not just the stuff you're supposed to write about, the stuff you're supposed to say, or be seen doing. It's just all that crazy stuff that goes through your head and just the little traumas."
Folds' empathy is not the only thing that has helped him write great songs over his two-decade career, it's his ability to craft catchy, layered melodies, whether that's on piano — his staple instrument — guitar, bass, or drums. He compares a good pop song to meeting someone cool for the first time.
"A really good pop song, in my book, is the kind of person you meet and has instant charisma, but doesn't wear out after the next couple weeks," he said. "It's not like ‘You know, when I shook this guy's hand, he seemed really cool, but now he's an asshole.'"
Music, however, isn't Folds' only passion. He takes a serious interest in photography, and, over the years, has accumulated an arsenal of photography equipment, including his own darkroom.
"Just living is conducive to expressing something. So the more activity, the more things going on, the more compelled I'm going to be to pick up a camera, to make something of it, to frame it all the right way," he says of his hobby. "Same thing with a song, the irony of it is as you become busy in life, you have less time to actually do it, so it's that balance."
He says with photography, he gets the best results when he is on tour and traveling. He'll have an opportunity this month, when he kicks off his tour to promote Lonely Avenue.
"[The audience will] hear new songs off the record that they haven't heard played live before. I'm always game for playing older stuff, songs I don't know, requests, songs that we're making up onstage."
But don't expect Folds to log onto Chatroulette at his upcoming show at the Orbit Room.
"I've got a pretty smart audience; I don't think they've figured that this was my new career path."
Photo: Ben Folds and Nick Hornby, by Eamonn McCabe
