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Written by Gregg Shapiro, Staff writer
Oct 14, 2011
Ben Folds. – Photo: Courtesy
As the lead singer of the trio Ben Folds Five in the 1990s and later as a solo artist, singer/songwriter and premier piano player, Ben Folds has developed a devoted legion of followers. But when he settled in at the judge’s table on the TV show "The Sing-Off," he raised his profile considerably.
Folds' new three CD anthology "The Best Imitation of Myself" has something for everyone – for those new to Folds' fold as well as the established Ben-heads.
Gregg Shapiro: In the pantheon of piano men, do you consider yourself more like Elton John or Billy Joel?
Ben Folds: I have to say kind of neither. In that I write the whole song myself and that I'm American, Billy Joel. Maybe in terms of style of harmony … there’s something that I have in common with Elton John. I listened to a lot of Elton John when I was a kid. I didn’t really have Billy Joel’s records until later. I think Billy Joel’s a fucking genius songwriter.
Because of the wit and humor in your work, does Tom Lehrer count as an influence?
Yeah. Tom Lehrer, Randy Newman. I think I use humor in a little different way than Lehrer, although I've dabbled in that, with songs such as "All You Can Eat." The way that I use funny is more to highlight what's not funny.
There is a theatrical quality to a number of your songs. Is there a Ben Folds Broadway musical in the works?
I was talking to all those people, Broadway producers, loads of them, I was approached a lot – and it was radical back then in 1995, 1996. And we would begin. And I have this whole list of producers that I think are wonderful that we've started down the road. I probably have a reputation as someone who seeks a few meetings about it, starts off and then quits. I think that’s unfortunate. It's just that I’ve gotten so busy and I haven't been exactly sure of what I was doing. It just hasn't happened yet. But I've got something that I feel is pretty solid at the moment.
Do you think that Bette Midler's 1998 cover of "Boxing" gained you an LGBT following?
I know there is (an LGBT following) and I love that. … And I was really thrilled that Bette Midler did my song. For no other reason than that I want people to cover my music. Delusionally, I expected that when I set off down the yellow brick road of musicianship, that I'd be a covered writer and I wasn't. It didn't happen until Bette did that. Of course, I bragged about that for years (laughs). And then a cappella groups at universities started doing my songs and there were hundreds and hundreds of versions floating around.
Before your current involvement with "The Sing Off," did you ever think that a cappella music would be such a force in your life?
No. And that's the way your career works. It's like the theater thing. You can premeditate these things and go, "That makes so much sense – chocolate and peanut butter, it should go together." And then it doesn't. Sometimes you just step into it. I move intuitively.
How does it feel to have a box set such as "The Best Imitation of Myself" to represent your musical contributions of the past 15 years?
It's kind of weird. I worked really hard on it because – it's on Legacy Records – and I did view it as a legacy. I know I'm not going to have time to go through tapes and all this kind of support system and schedule and ability to do it. I took it seriously.
