Thursday, March 1, 2012

Things I Love Thursday - Part 29

Most days I have no problem coming up with a Thing I Love.  If anything, the problem is narrowing it down.  Today, though, I needed a bit of help.  Then my friend Klonnie at The Klonopin Chronicles said, what about music?  Too broad?"  And yes, it is broad.  We all like so many different things, and there's so much out there.  I am so random in my tastes that it can vary wildly, but today I choose to focus on one artist in particular. 

Mr. Ben Folds.  My darling, my sweetheart, my soul.  I told my husband the other night, "almost the greatest gift you have given me is Ben Folds".  And it's absolutely true.  My husband has given me many gifts of the emotional sort, most of all his gift of being the funniest person I know, but THIS? This is special. This doesn't happen very often.

I was late to this party.  I never knew Ben Folds.  And when DH and I got together in 2007, that very first night, he sat me down and had me listen to some songs.  I immediately knew 2 things that night, that my life was changing forever with this man I would soon marry, and that I found another new love.  Another soul connection in this Ben Folds person.  So yeah, that was one helluva night for me. 

DH had the lyrics from this song framed for my Soberthday a few years ago.  It lives above our bed. 
Google this song and listen if you don't know it.  And I am the luckiest. 

Ben Folds Five was the group years ago and they are equally important.  Do yourself a favor and listen to well, all of it.  The group and the solo stuff. 

I won't go on and on about how Ben Folds gets me and gets life and struggle and emotion and the music just reaches my core instantly.  I won't go on about how he's a fucking genius and cannot even be explained.   I won't say that he is funny and smart and nerdy and sings his experiences in life and love and the music - my God.  How does a human come up with this incredibly beautiful and poppy music?  My tiny brain cannot grasp this.  My life is incredibly richer because of him.  I will say, I am entirely grateful that he deemed us worthy of his gift.

Here's just a tiny sample.  First killer to the core beauty:


Onto angry break up song.  SO GOOD.  Give me back my black t-shirt:


Then astute observation:


You know how to use the Google.  Go get lost in him like I do.  I get lost in all these and I have every single song on my ipod. 

So I thank my dear Dumpster Husband for that one night, that fundamentally changed my entire life.  My soul and my heart and even my head have been so much better off due to those few first hours.


***EDITED to add that my friend Chris is doing a music challenge, and I posted this before I knew about it.  SO this will have to do as my entry.  I am confident of it's heft.  Go check out From the Bungalow please!

12 comments:

  1. This is one of my favorite posts of yours ever. Ben has been a huge part of my life, too. You and I both are some of the luckiest people I know.
    Thanks for writing about Ben. So much fun and so inspiring!
    Aside from The Luckiest, my favorite Ben song might be Not the Same. It's especially wonderful live.
    Who am I kidding? I love all of his music!

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  2. I love Ben folds. Thanks for this post, because he has fallen off my radar recently, so I think I'll give the kids a lesson in good music today. Have you heard his cover of Bitches Ain't Shit? I'm sure you have, but it makes me giggle like a loon when I listen to it.

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  3. Have I heard it? Dear GOD woman!!!

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  4. Dumpster Husband is a keeper. I love that he framed the sheet music for you. So original and meaningful. I will pay more attention to the lyrics next time I hear Ben Folds!

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  5. As always, awesome post. Love the framed music also!

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  6. Ben Folds is great. Many of his songs are on my running and/or morning mixes. I deck tie get my shwerve on to his music!

    #CommentDay

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  7. I've Ben Fold Katy! Kindred:). brick is my favorite song...everything about it. Love DH he is a keeper and so are you! Xo

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  8. A sweet post, Katy. How funny that you were already writing a post about a connection with music as I was challenging folks to write about a connection with music. ;) I love Ben Folds. Karin and I saw him at the Fillmore in Detroit last year, and he sang The Luckiest. All of the drunk, slutty girls and their obnoxiously loud frat-style boyfriends were worth putting up with for that one moment. I also framed the first page of the sheet music to The Luckiest as a wedding gift. :D Thanks for playing along!

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  9. I've always like Ben Folds .. and I am always surprised by how many people DON'T know him.

    A lovely post.

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  10. I love that you have a soberthday. The framed lyrics are beautiful!

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  11. I have always liked BF5 and Ben's solo stuff, but the song "Army" will always hold a special place in my heart. I know it's not particularly a romantic song (ok not a romantic song by any means lol) but it is the very first song I heard my fiancée sing when we met. we were at a karaoke bar and when I heard him sing I knew I was in love with him. Ben is a genius and so amazingly wonderful!

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  12. ahhh!! I too love, and am IN love with Ben Folds. He is beyond awesome. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform live in the summer of 2005. It was an outdoor venue in Cleveland. I'll never forget his piano playing - and his singing all my favorite songs! He rocked that shit!

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