Ben Folds – Belinda

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  General Comment:Of course, the storyline here is very specific and is fictional, but when I hear this song I always think of Fold's "The Luckiest". He wrote that song while married to his third wife and mother of his children. After breaking up with her he stopped playing the song live. Recently he's started playing it again due to popular demand. I imagine it must be pretty tough to perform it, or at least it was for some time.

  Flag Ethan_Mon January 07, 2013   Link

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  General Comment:I haven't heard anything from Folds or Hornby directly but to me the story is pretty clear, and has been stated already, but here's my version including some subtler things.
  
  An Ageing rockstar still tours and his biggest (or only) hit is about his ex - Belinda. He mostly plays to old folks of his generation. I think the "a lot of forty-somethings..." actually refers to the offspring of couples who got together/conceived/whatever to the song, and if for arguments sake we say the "present" is 2010 that would put the release of the song in the 60s - his hay day. This probably makes him and his fans around 70.
  
  Anyway the lyrics of the song are "Belinda I love you, don't leave me, I need you", but the songs he sings in his head are what really happened - he left Belinda for an air hostess (plane + champagne), who was superficially great (younger, breasts, etc), but whom he probably never really had a connection with. Not sure if Cindy is the same girl but either way her song comically has the same generic lyrics (perhaps just a metaphor for very similar lyrics).
  
  The last lyric is wrong - it should simply be "Belinda, i love you / She gave me complimentary champagne (X2)" And i think that's important because this time it's just him saying it, and for the first time he dropped the "ed" from the end of love - confessing that he does in fact still love her, and then repeats the champagne lyric to pathetically try to explain he was tempted away.
  
  One last thing - i think the "hidden" extra bit at the end could be a representation of what the song actually sounded like - it sounds like it could be from the 60s.
  

  Flag thewebbon January 12, 2011   Link

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    my two cents:
    
    I like to think the hidden bit is what he's reffering to the "So now he has to do it with this lyric in his head" bit.
    
    The song writer is performing the actual song but he uses the word bitch. Now he has to play the f#ckin thing over and over again and it reminds him of how he threw away his 'true love' for some free champagne, a pair of tits and a nice smile.

    Flag jethrowon April 02, 2011  
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  General Comment: Ben Folds said this song was about an older rockstar who wrote a song about his ex, and he's performed this song year after year. He's gotten really sick of this song, but he can't stop performing it. If he did he'd be a "one hit wonder with no hit." While the fans sing the chorus for him, he's sing these sarcastic lyrics in his head.
  
  This song is part of the "Foldsby Project" The lyrics were written by the novelist Nick Hornby, and performed by Ben Folds.

  Flag jtk1993on February 20, 2010   Link

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    I read recently where Nick Hornby was thinking about Eric Clapton and his song Layla which was supposedly written for George Harrison's wife at the time Patty Boyd. She later left George and was married to Eric but eventually they too divorced. Hornby wondered what it was like for Clapton to have to sing that song over and over after the feelings had gone away. Of course Clapton is no one hit wonder but speaking for myself as a 40 something I can say Layla has always been the song I most associated with him. Painful and full of longing...and just amazing guitar work...when I heard the story of it's origin for the first time I must admit the song took on new meaning for me. I think they (Ben and Nick) nail the feelings and emptiness that sometimes come from cheating and breaking off a relationship that you, after the fact, come to find you valued a great deal more than you thought.

    Flag Splerbon October 22, 2010  

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    I don't think it's sarcasm... I think like Splerb said, the singer is regretting his actions and really regrets breaking his relationship with Belinda....and is now doomed to sing this song for the rest of his career.

    Flag gimpPACon November 12, 2010  

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