Mysterious New Songs?

Imagine if it is real though and poor ben is looking at the board right now where a bunch of kids are writing it off as a joke!
lol if that is the case sorry dude but at least you have time to fix it!

remember our opinions of the exit/in songs that he so quickly dismissed (in a half-joking, snarky manner)?
(i miss Brainwashed a LOT, btw)
we're all gonna buy the album (joke or not), which says a lot about ben/his fans.
hell, i'd buy the damn thing right now if only for a copy of YDKM.

I'm just kiddin around...he must have cared a little bit since he took the time to let us know we were mistaken about his mood

The more I listen to this album, the more I am assured it is (mostly) a joke.  I have already changed the album name to "Far From Normal" in iTunes.

I guess if I turn out to be wrong... oh well.  While the lyrics are not exactly artistic, you have to admit it is a fun and interesting Ben Folds album.

I hope everyone's had a chance to hear these songs.  That "cat ate my sofa" blog is still up, and the songs still work.  I don't want to post anything that will get deleted.  The link has already been posted before in this thread, or get creative and Google it.  But only listen to the ones that say they're fake if you don't want a real preview of the album, because I don't think they're all fake there.  I agree with the author of the blog in his assessment of the songs, exept that I like what Ben did with Cologne lyrically. 

WOW. what is going on?!?!? i haven't had internet access for a few days, so i am completely confused, but i don't have time to read this entire thread. anybody want to fill me in a little? (beyond the fact that there was a leak, i kinda picked up on that)

I like the political vibes

"If i'm the person who you say i am" is the best part of "you don't know me"... mainly because regina's backups are so perfect there.

"If i'm the person who you say i am" is the best part of "you don't know me"... mainly because regina's backups are so perfect there.

I've listened to it about 15 times since last night. It's possibly the best song ever. So, Ben - if you wanted to make me excited about the new album with this leak, well done. It's such a good song!

OK, So I've been wondering about this all since last night. Just by listening it appears to be obvious which songs are real and which aren't. ie The well produced ones are obviously real and the others might not be. People have said they're just melodramatic and very lazy lyrically, but some of them are rather good...

The Frown Song - Don't you think it's got a lot of work in it for a joke? Extra instruments, it's rather a fun track anyway... It could be a B-Side, and it's stupid lyrically and has a stupid name, but it's a good tune.
Dr Yang - I actually really like this. It's very simple (Ben, Jared, Sam and Tambo Man), and I really don't see why it should be a fake apart from the production values... But everyone else seems to hate it and say "obvious fake!" Maybe I'm missing something?

Despite what I said before, I don't think this Free Coffee and TBWN are the real ones because the live ones fit the sound of the album better. Oh, and calling a track "Free Coffee Final" is obviously trying to make people think it's real when it's not. And he has said at quite high profile shows that they are on the new album.  I'd love the live ones to be fake, partly because they seem very samey, but mostly because it would be the best joke ever by Ben.

And surely "Way To Normal" is us speaking? We've all been saying "Show me the Way To Normal", now we're saying "Is this the Way To Normal?", and we all think it's a "Long way to go"...

So this album (which I've changed to "Less than Normal" too, I like that name) watching the new songs the other night, they seem very percussiony. I would go so far to say that clever percussion is something which defined BFF and WAEA, and has been lacking a bit recently (I'm sure you can all find several hundred examples to prove me wrong). What do you think?

WOW. what is going on?!?!? i haven't had internet access for a few days, so i am completely confused, but i don't have time to read this entire thread. anybody want to fill me in a little? (beyond the fact that there was a leak, i kinda picked up on that)

Some new studio-produced Ben songs were found online.  There are 9 of them.  One of them is called "Free Coffee," but it is, well, a bit different from the "Free Coffee" we have come to know and love from his recent live shows.  One of them is called "The Bitch Went Nuts," but it's a special version of "The Bitch Went Nuts."  One of them is called "The Frown Song," and right now it is hurting the muscles in my face from 3 straight minutes of the opposite.  "You Don't Know Me" is good, good, good, in the more traditional "pre-leak" sense of the word.  Because they're all good, some just require a more convoluted path to arrive at that description.  

They may or may not be leaks from his new album.  The hilarity and beauty of their existence is that you get to decide for yourself what they are and what they mean and just what on God's green earth is going on.  

I highly suggest reading this whole thread.  It's almost as entertaining as the new songs.  The thread and the new songs combined have already made my week.  I've been in a serious funk lately, but for the past several hours I've been genuinely and almost annoyingly happy.  

WOW. what is going on?!?!? i haven't had internet access for a few days, so i am completely confused, but i don't have time to read this entire thread. anybody want to fill me in a little? (beyond the fact that there was a leak, i kinda picked up on that)

Yep, I'll second that.  I've been away without internets/minimal internets and look what happens!
Thanks for the summary Emerald..I'll be back to reaad the whole thing when I've answered my 50 gazillion emails that require my attention...

If you really need the link with all 9 tracks. I know someone ahemthatisme that has it loaded to sendspace. just send me a message.


I think, this is already the best ben joke ever.


next question is; how will he top this?



Torrent sites are listing it as six track "Way to Normal" EP..... what we've got minus the three accepted tracks. Well. the three-maybe-not-shitting-you tracks.

See fake or not, I really like them.  I sort of prefer this Free Coffee to the versions I have heard live, but like that one too - they are completely different and have their own merits.  It's just nice to be able to listen to some new stuff of Ben's that isn't recorded on a 'phone.  I like the quirk of The Frown Song and YDKM is just amazing.  My friends are also going to be relieved as I will now sing more than the "oh oh oh-oh" from Hiroshima (I tend to get into a bit of a loop)

Oh, and I always imagined that the title of album was taken from a line from Effington "the way to Normal, IL" (or something) - was I dreaming?

well i think its fun!