Ben Folds' Women (in Song) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Julianne

The title of the song is "Julianne", which is included among the tracks of Ben Folds Five's first album "Ben Folds Five", published in 1995. The song's theme is similar to John Waite's 1980s song "Missing You (I ain't missing you at all)". The singer in this song is in denial about just how much he truly cares about a woman with whom he's no longer in a relationship.

He's beginning to realize the truth, however, after he is startled by the appearance of a one-night-stand he finds in his bed one morning: "I met this girl, she look'd like Axl Rose . . .

In the morning put my feet on the floor and thought being awake never felt like this before".

Answer: Alice Childress

"Alice Childress" also appears on the 1995 album "Ben Folds Five". It was co-written by Ben Folds and Anna Goodman, his wife at the time. Originally, Goodman wrote a parody of what she felt were stereotypical Ben Folds lyrics, and Folds then wrote the music.

However, Folds later completely replaced Goodman's lyrics with his own as he began to see the song gradually as something different, a picture of two people breaking up because each one sees and understands the world extremely differently from the other. Consider some of the lyrics: "Alice, the world is full of ugly things / That you can't change / Pretend it's not that way / It's my idea of faith / You can blow it off / And say there's good in nearly everyone". Nevertheless, Goodman still maintains partial credit for the composition of the song.

Answer: Kate

"Kate" was released on Ben Folds Five's second album "Whatever and Ever Amen", which climbed to 42 on the U.S. "Billboard 200" and 30 on the UK Albums Chart. It was written by Ben Folds, Darren Jessee (drummer for Ben Folds Five), and Anna Goodman, Folds' first wife. The song is about a man who is so obsessed with a free-spirited woman named Kate that he would, in fact, like to be her. It was released as a single in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 39 on the UK Singles Chart. Some of the lyrics are, "Everyday she wears the same thing / I think she smokes pot / She's everything I need, / She's everything I'm not / Oh, I . . . / Have you got nothing to say?"

Interestingly, Ben Folds' second wife was named Kate, but the song "Kate" only coincidentally bears her name. It was written before Folds was in a relationship with the woman who became his second wife.

Answer: Jane

"Jane", composed by Ben Folds, appears on Ben Folds Five's third studio album "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner", which was released in 1999--their last studio album before the band took a hiatus for over a decade. The name used in the album's title--Reinhold Messner--was the alias used by Ben Folds Five's drummer Darren Jessee whenever he would make a fake ID when he was a teenager.

After the band had already begun working on the album, a DJ informed them during an interview that Reinhold Messner is the first man to climb Mt. Everest alone and to do so without the assistance of an oxygen bottle.

The DJ wondered if the band members had intended a connection between the name and the album; however, the band had not and were completely unaware that there is a real Reinhold Messner.

Interestingly, Messner was fine with the band's use of his name and even wrote to tell them that he enjoyed the album.

Answer: Annie

"Annie Waits" is a song appearing on Ben Folds' first solo album "Rockin' the Suburbs", which was released through publication in 2001 and climbed to the number 42 position on the U.S. "Billboard 200" chart.

Ben Folds was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 1966 and began learning to play the piano when he was nine years old. His father, a carpenter, brought home a used piano he had accepted as payment from a client who could not pay in cash. Some of Folds' earliest influences were Elton John and Billy Joel, both highly celebrated piano-man singer/songwriters.

Answer: Sara

"Zak and Sara" is another song from Ben Folds' first solo album, "Rockin' the Suburbs". The album was released on September 11 of 2001, the exact day of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City.

Ben Folds has recorded songs with William Shatner and "Weird Al" Yankovic. He's also recorded with Regina Spektor, the song "You Don't Know Me" from Folds' 2008 album "Way to Normal". It was released as a single and, in January 2015, was used by Nationwide Insurance for one of its television commercials.

Answer: Lisa

"Losing Lisa" is yet another song from Ben Folds' first solo album, "Rockin' the Suburbs". The song was written by both Ben Folds and Frally Hynes to whom Folds was married from 1999 to 2006. She is a native Australian and the mother of their two children Louis Francis and Gracie Scott.

The song "Still Fighting It" from "Rockin' the Suburbs" is about Louis Francis, and "Gracie" from the "Songs for Silverman" album is obviously about Gracie.

Answer: Cathy

Yet one more song from "Rockin' the Suburbs", Ben Folds' first studio solo album, "Carrying Cathy" is a very meaningful song about an attempt to understand a very depressed woman who seems unable to cope with life without being carried through it by others and who eventually takes her life by jumping from a window. The singer is haunted by dreams of her funeral during which she is being carried in her casket and by a guilt that seems to stem from his inability to carry her sufficiently.

The single from "Rockin' the Suburbs", also called "Rockin' the Suburbs", reached position number 28 on the U.S. "Modern Rock Tracks" chart.

Answer: Judy

"Give Judy My Notice" is from Ben Folds' second studio album "Songs for Silverman", which was released in 2005. Folds had originally wanted to name the album "Songs for Goldman". Ben Goldman was Folds' artists and repertoire agent at Sony Records, and, while Folds was working on composing and compiling new songs for his second album, he would send the songs to Goldman. However, the record company did not like Folds' decision for the album's title and insisted that he change it. Apparently, he changed it, but only slightly--from Gold to Silver. Perhaps, "Silverman" is a better choice because of its alliterative effect with the word "Songs".

One single from the album, "Landed", reached position number seventy-seven on the U.S. "Billboard Hot 100" chart, and another single, "Jesusland", reached number two on the U.K. "Singles" chart.

Answer: Kylie

"Kylie from Connecticut" is from the 2008 album "Way to Normal", Ben Folds' third studio album. "Way to Normal" reached a higher position than both his previous two studio albums, reaching number eleven on the U.S. "Billboard 200" chart within a week of its release.

Folds released a "fake Way to Normal" album on the web two months before the real album was released to serve as a practical joke on his fans. The "fake" album was supposed to be a stolen copy of the new album leaked by an anonymous fan, but it ended up being a bunch of foul-mouthed ranting and strange sounding music.