The Ukulele Alphabet: Video by Ben Folds Five
Letter V, Week 2
“Video” by Ben Folds Five
As we make our way through the final entries of the Ukulele Alphabet, I’m seeing patterns and connections between the songs I chose that weren’t obvious when I pulled together this list nearly a year ago.
When challenging myself to learn “Video,” I didn’t think about how this song would be a bookend to “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” performed back in May, but it is beyond the obvious use of piano as the major melodic instrument.
It’s because this song (and pretty much all of the first eponymous Ben Folds Five album) was another repeat entry in the driving-around-singing-at-the-top-of-our-lungs category in high school. And if you don’t think a person can contain multitudes, the juxtaposition of Billy Joel and Ben Folds is proof right there.
In some ways, this was a little more of a learning curve to get the rhythm and timing down than “Scenes” was. Though this song is thankfully shorter than 7 minutes, 46 seconds, because my poor fingers!
And every time I sing “no…. vocaine our brains” in the first verse, I am still impressed that my sibling figured out those lyrics right off the bat without any assistance from a lyrics sheet or from the internet. So smart, that one!
Listen to the original version of “Video”:
What’s the Ukulele Alphabet?
Read all about my 2025 ukulele performance project (and its rules) here.
I want to A-B-SEEEE some more!
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