WholesomeRadio Album Feature: Whatever and Ever Amen
Recorded: September-October 1996 at Chapel Hill, NC
Release Date: March 18th, 1997
Whatever and Ever Amen is the second album by piano-rock trio Ben Folds Five. Combining humor, personal reflection, narrative songwriting, and general despair, Whatever and Ever Amen is widely considered to be Ben Folds Five's most iconic album and magnum opus, producing five singles: “Battle of Who Could Care Less,” “Kate,” “One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces,” “Brick” and “Song For The Dumped." “Brick," the third track on the album, particularly became one of Ben Folds Five's biggest hits, even charting internationally. Between 1997 and 1998, Whatever and Ever Amen placed 42nd on the U.S. Billboard 200 weekly charts and 138th in the 1997 year-end charts, selling 1 million copies in the U.S.
Songs like the opening track "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces" and the third track "Brick" reflect experiences Ben Folds had in his youth and teenage years. The former is a triumphant, raucous, and bittersweet track that is dedicated to a lot of Ben Folds' elementary school classmates who allegedly picked on Folds due to his short stature and eyeglasses. This is reflected in the lyrics "September '75, I was 47 inches high.” The lyrics "Yeah, now I'm big and important, One angry dwarf and 200 solemn faces are you,” contradict the previous lyric, as Ben has since grown up to become rich and successful, with this success putting him in a position to boast his success over his former backbiters. The latter, however, is based on an autobiographical incident that Folds went through in high school with his girlfriend, who had to get an abortion. Folds stated that when describing the abortion process that quote, "It was a very sad thing, and I didn't really want to write this song from any kind of political standpoint or make a statement. I just wanted to reflect what it feels like," and also said that neither he nor his girlfriend wanted their parents to know about the pregnancy, so Ben ended up taking most of the presents he received that Christmas and sold them at a pawn shop to afford the abortion. Likewise, the lyrics reflect the whole experience in chronological order, with the girlfriend being likened to the namesake "brick," especially noted in the lyrics, "She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly, Off the coast and I'm headed nowhere, She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly."
"Song for the Dumped" and "Selfless, Cold, and Composed" go back-to-back with one another, reflecting the complex theme of a romantic breakup. The former serves as an honest, explicit, and ironically upbeat rant about the singer's girlfriend dumping him, while the latter deals with the complex and bitter emotions associated with the breakup of one of Ben’s long-term relationships, supposedly inspired by a letter from his first wife, Anna Goodman, written from her point of view to him. Conversely, "Kate" serves as a tribute to Folds' then-wife Kate Rosen, whom he married in December 1996, with Folds saying that it is a "crush song."
"Steven's Last Night in Town" is thrown in a completely different direction, as it provides an upbeat, heavy, big band/vaudeville-type sound. The song is, in essence, a tribute song about Folds' friend, the late Stephen Short, who worked with artists including Paul McCartney and Wings, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins of Genesis fame, Queen, and Echo and the Bunnymen. "Battle of Who Could Care Less" mocks the slackers that Ben Folds Five encountered in their North Carolina residence, referring to a type of apathetic youth in the 90s who were cynical and uninterested in political or social causes and associated with Generation Xers. This song suggests that those who appear to care the least and act the most indifferent towards everything are actually the losers in life.
Final Verdict: Whatever and Ever Amen is a witty but ambitious venture into the alt-rock scene of the 90s. It is more or less a roller coaster of emotions containing themes that could resonate with the listener in the long run, from personal triumphs to dealing with unexpected and troublesome issues in life.
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