Updated: Picasso Napkin

Stories are told about h0w Picasso would pay for his restaurant meal by doodling on a napkin. He put no effort into his doodle; it only had value because he drew it.

This is all to say: I went to the Ben Folds concert Thursday.

Ben, it would seem, has a new creative outlook, which is that if he or his band creates it, then it has value. Like Picasso’s napkin, it doesn’t have to be good.

We like Ben Folds for the building elevating chords and the well-thought-out lyrics. Evidently, that’s “the old shit.” That’s what they play after the encore, Ben said, and after hearing “the new shit” I clapped long and obediently to hear it again.

The New Shit: The Music

I don’t know that much about music. Still, every once in a while I’d think, “Ew, he missed that key.” Then Gary said, “I think his piano’s out of tune.” Or maybe it’s the piano version of drop-D tuning.

But maybe not, maybe he’s experimenting with dissonance, I thought, because many of the songs disintegrated into … what’s the musical term … randomly banging on the keyboard.

The New Shit: The Lyrics

Cologne, an entire song, is essentially along these lines:

I’m letting you go
I will let go
If you will let go

And just when I was yawning and looking at the bottles behind the bar, went:

(Four, three, two)

Says here an astronaut
Put on a pair of diapers
Drove eighteen hours
To kill her boyfriend
And in my hotel room, I’m wondering
If you read that story too

Cool, I thought. Then it went back to:

Four, three, two, one,
I’m letting you go
I will let go
If you will let go … (Four, three, two) … (Ohhhhh-aah)

I don’t know. It was unexpected, so in that way it was humorous. He does use the word “weightless” in the next stanza, but other than that there was a lot of “(Four, three, two) … (Ohhhhh-aah).” It’s just that other bands I could think of could have done more with that song.

You know, I applaud creativity. (I liked Moulin Rouge, Big Dot.) I should have loved this concert. Plus, I like anyone who shows me the process, and Ben puts boxes of Altoids in his piano sometimes. (Gary said, “Maybe that’s why it’s out of tune. He’s putting stuff in it.” )

I don’t know, then. I won’t know how I feel about this new album until I see what happens next. Next, either Ben Folds fully commits to his lyrics or else he puts a Kotex on his head. Those are his options.

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UPDATE: Under the Fairness in Broadcasting Act, I have to point you toward Fluid Pudding’s take on the same concert.