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rockin' the suburbs
rockin' the
suburbs
annie waits
zak and sara
still fighting it
gone
fred jones part 2
the ascent of stan
losing lisa
carrying cathy
not the same
rockin' the suburbs
fired
the luckiest
hiro's song on Japanese version only

rockin'
the
suburbs





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let me tell ya'll what it's like
being male, middle class and white
it's a bitch, if you don't believe
listen up to my new cd
sham on

i got shit running through my brain
so intense that i can't explain
all alone in my white boy pain
shake your booty while the band complains

i'm rocking the suburbs
just like michael jackson did
i'm rocking the suburbs
except that he was talented
i'm rocking the suburbs
i take the checks and face the facts
that some producer with computers
fixes all my shitty tracks

i'm pissed off but i'm too polite
when people break in the mcdonalds line
mom and dad you made me so uptight
i'm gonna cuss on the mic tonight
i don't know how much i can take
girl give me something i can break

i'm rocking the suburbs
just like quiet riot did
i'm rocking the suburbs
except that they were talented
i'm rocking the suburbs
i take the checks and face the facts
that some producer with computers
fixes all my shitty tracks

in a haze these days
i pull up to the stoplight
i can feel that something's not right
i can feel that someone's blasting me
with hate and bass
sending dirty vibes my way
cause my great great great great grandad
made someone's great great great great grandaddy slaves
it wasn't my idea
it wasn't my idea
it never was my idea
i just drove to the store
for some preparation h

ya'll don't know what it's like
being male, middle class and white
it gets me real pissed off and it makes me wanna say
fuck

just like jon bon jovi did
i'm rocking the suburbs
except that he was talented
i'm rocking the suburbs
i take the checks and face the facts
that some producer with computers
fixes all my shitty tracks these days
i'm rocking the suburbs
you'd better look out because i'm gonna say fuck


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zak
and
sara





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sara, spelled without and H was getting bored
on a peavey amp in 1984
while zak without a C tried out new guitars
playing sara with no H's favorite song

la da da la da da la da da
zak and sara

often sara would have spells where she lost time
she saw the future
she heard voices from inside
the kind of voices she would soon learn to deny
because at home they got her smacked

la da da la da da la da da
zak and sara

zak called his dad about layaway plans
sara told the friendly salesman that
"you'll all die in your cars"
and "why's it gotta be dark?"
and "you're all living in a submarine, asshole!"

then she saw the lights
she saw a pale english face
some strange machines repeating beats
and thumping bass
visions of pills to put you in a loving trance
that make it possible for all white boys to dance
and when zak finished sara's song
sara clapped

la da da la da da la da da
zak and sara
gone





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i thought i'd write
i thought i'd let you know
that the year since you've been gone
i've finally let you go
and i hope you find some time to drop a note
but if you won't
then you won't
and i will consider you gone

i know that you went straight to someone else
while i worked through all this shit here by myself
and i think that you should spend some time alone
but if you won't
then you won't
then i will consider you gone

i wake up in the night
all alone, and that's alright
the chemicals are wearing off
since you've gone

the days go on
the lights go off and on
and nothing really matters when you're gone
if you think that you feel nothing at all
if you don't
then you don't
if you won't
then you won't
then i will consider you gone
still
fighting
it





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good morning son
i am a bird
wearing a brown polyester shirt
you want a coke?
maybe some fries?
the roast beef combo's only nine ninety five
but it's okay
you don't have to pay
i've got all the change

everybody knows
it hurts to grow up
but everybody does
it's so weird to be back here
let me tell you what
the years go on and
we're still fighting it
and you're so much like me
i'm sorry

good morning son
twenty years from now
maybe we'll both sit down
and have a few beers
and i can tell
you about today
and how i picked you up
and everything changed
it was pain
sunny days and rain
i knew you'd feel the same things

everybody knows
it sucks to grow up
and everybody does
and so weird to be back here
let me tell you what
the years go on and
we're still fighting it

you'll try and try
and one day you'll fly
away from me

it was pain
sunny days and rain
i knew you'd feel the same things

everybody knows
it hurts to grow up
and everybody does
and so weird to be back here
let me tell you what
the years go on and
we're still fighting it
and you're so much like me
i'm sorry


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fired





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lucrecia walks into a room
because she does
it's not the same room
the one she wanted to be in
she says
everywhere i go, damn there i am

and i just wanna walk away
won't you let me walk away sometimes
i just wanna walk away
every one of you is fired

i'm just an ordinary guy
and all i want is to be loved
is that so wrong?
don't think that i don't know
what you're saying about me
i hear it all through these thin walls

and i just wanna walk away
won't you let me walk away this time
i just wanna walk away
every one of you is fired



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not
the
same





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you took a trip
and climbed a tree
at robert sledge's party
and there you stayed
until morning came
and you were not the same after that
you gave your life
to jesus christ
and after all your friends went home
you came down
you looked around
and you were not the same after that
you were not the same after that

you've seen them drop like flies
from the bright sunny skies
they come knocking at your door
with this look in their eyes
you've got one good trick
and you're hanging on
you're hanging on to it

you took the word
and made it heard
and eased the people's pain and for that
you were idolized, immortalized
you were not the same after that
walking tall, you'd bought it all
you were not the same after that
until someone died on the water slide
and you were not the same after that
you were not the same after that

you've seen them drop like flies
from the bright sunny skies
they come knocking at your door
with this look in their eyes
you've got one good trick
and you're hanging on
you're hanging on to it


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the
luckiest





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i don't get
many things right the first time
in fact, i am told that a lot
now i know all the wrong turns,
the stumbles and falls brought me here
and where was i before the day
that i first saw your lovely face
now i see it everyday
and i know

that i am, i am
i am the luckiest
what if i'd been born
fifty years before you
in a house
on the street where you live
maybe i'd be outside
as you passed on your bike
would i know?
in a wide sea of eyes
i see one pair that i recognize
and i know

that i am, i am
i am the luckiest

i love you more than i have
ever found a way to say to you
next door
there's an old man
who lived into his nineties
and one day passed away in his sleep
and his wife, she stayed
for a couple of days and passed away
i'm sorry i know that's a
strange way to tell you that i know
we belong
that i know

that i am, i am
i am the luckiest


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the
ascent
of stan





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pangs of silence from the room upstairs
how's the view there?
do you read what they're saying about you
that you're no fun
since the war was won
in fact, you have become
all of the things you've always run from

the ascent of stan
textbook hippy man
get rest while you can

so where'd the years go?
all the time we had
being poor was
not such a drag in hindsight
and you wondered
why your father was
so resigned
now you don't wonder anymore

the ascent of stan
textbook hippy man
get rest while you can

once you wanted revolution
now you're the institution
how's it feel to be the man
it's no fun to be the man



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annie
waits





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and so annie waits annie waits annie waits
for a call from a friend
the same
it's the same, why's it always the same?
annie waits for the last time

the clock never stops never stops never waits
she's growing old
it's getting late
and so he forgot, he forgot but maybe not
maybe he's been seriously hurt
would that be worse?

headlights crest the hill
shadows pass her by and out of sight
annie sees in dreams
friday bingo, pigeons in the park

annie waits for the last time
just the same as the last time

annie says, you see?
this is why i'd rather be alone

and so annie waits annie waits annie waits
for a call from a friend
the same
it's the same, why's it always the same?
annie waits as the last...

headlights crest the hill
who will be the one forever more
annie, i could be
if we're both still lonely when we're old

annie waits for the last time
just the same as the last time
annie waits
but not for me


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fred
jones
part 2





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fred sits alone at his desk in the dark
there's an awkward young shadow that waits in the hall
he has packed all his things
and he's put them in boxes
things that remind him that life has been good
twenty five years he's worked at the paper
a man's here to take him downstairs
and i'm sorry mr jones, it's time

there was no party and there were no songs
cause today's just a day like the day that he started
and no one is left here that knows his first name
yeah, and life barrels on like a runaway train
where the passengers change
they don't change anything
you get off
someone else can get on
and i'm sorry mr jones, it's time

the streetlight it shines through the haze
casting lines on the floor
and lines on his face
he reflects on the day...

fred gets his paints out and goes to the basement
projecting some slides onto a plain white canvas
and traces it
fills in the spaces
he turns off the slides
and it doesn't look right
yeah, and all of these bastards have taken his place
he's forgotten but not yet gone
and i'm sorry mr jones
and i'm sorry mr jones
and i'm sorry mr jones, it's time


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carrying
cathy





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her window was hung like a painting
she worried it might come to life
she stared for hours
so obsessed was i
and self absorbed that i
didn't see that she was crying
there was always someone carrying cathy

there were times i would find myself saying to friends
you don't understand
she's different when it's just me and her
and i'd close the door
and i'd try to hang on
as she sank into the dark
i was over my head
there was always someone carrying cathy

we gave you everything
you could have done anything
we gave you everything
you could been anything
but to imagine a fall with no one at all to catch you
there'd always been someone...

then one night she climbed into the picture frame
out into frozen air and out of sight

woke up sad from this dream i've been having
the last couple nights or so
with her father, her brothers
we're all at the funeral
carrying a box through the rain
and somebody says,
yeah, it's always been this way
there was always someone carrying cathy


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losing
lisa





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the lights are off again
she took me by surprise
she's so sensitive
and shit just happens sometimes
she's my everything
she's my best friend and more
we didn't do the day...
before you go
you oughta know
that i didn't mean to hurt you
i just wanted you to know

black tears are falling down her face and i am wrong
black tears are falling and she won't say what i've done
she sitting here beside me
and she is gone
black tears are falling falling

remember long ago
together laughing loving
oh so long ago
when we were buying something
life was simple then
but she's not happy now and i
don't feel anything
her lips are moving
i am mesmerized by tiny lines
i'm watching as the shapes are drawing
slowly from her eyes

black tears are falling down her face and i am wrong
black tears are falling and she won't say what i've done
she's sitting here beside me and she is gone
black tears are falling falling

losing lisa
losing lisa and there's nothing i can do


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hiro's
song





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my name is hiro
i am fifty one
since nineteen eighty
life has been no fun
and i don't wanna die
i left my family for the secretary

her name is yuko
she is twenty two
she and my daughter
were best friends in high school
they say i'm crazy and it's temporary
but i refuse to rot
like my contemporaries
i wanna explode
in a karaoke supernova

i don't wanna grow old
won't you let me
won't you let me explode
in a karaoke supernova

last night she dressed me up
in hip hop pants
the phat g-style
that rides below your ass
she wants to show me
to her mom and dad
i told her
i would not be down with that
cause lately i can feel the years between us
and hope to god that friends at work don't see us
tonight she asked me if i'd ever seen jesus
cause she had backstage passes for three of us

i don't wanna grow old
won't you let me
won't you let me explode
in a karaoke supernova

so now she's gone and broke my heart, goddamn her
turns out she's been fucking his drum programmer
she likes his style
she likes his rock star glamour
well, she's an infant
he can damn well have her

i don't wanna grow old
won't you let me
won't you let me explode in a karaoke supernova
official lyrics (c) 2001 free from the man songs (bmi)
all songs written by ben folds except losing lisa by ben folds and frally hynes