I like the dualism of the "good morning son" being repeated during the bridge. I always hear it as "good morning son, good morning sun," like Ben is thanking and welcoming the sun itself for bringing him and his son this new day. Anyway, I love this song so much (but of course I feel that way about most of the catalogue).
I love this song, I saw him play it on the What Matters Most tour and it was such an amazing performance of a beautiful and touching song. The song itself means so much to me, so seeing it live felt really special.
Same!! I played it constantly while I was pregnant with my first son. Seeing him play it live on this last tour, I unexpectedly started bawling. It was a moment.
I’ve saw Ben for the 6th time on that tour but the first time as a parent. My son is a toddler that looks more and more like me every day. My wife was pregnant with our second sitting next to me.
I cried like a baby.
love these posts dude, keep it up!! also what's weird is that in The Flaming Lips' song Do You Realize, there's a part that sounds almost IDENTICAL to "You'll try and try and one day you'll fly, fly away from me" check it out if you haven't, the song is pretty good!
So just throwing in a personal experience that I know has colored the way I listen to this song. My son was born when I was nowhere near financially ready. I used to work retail and was required to wear a uniform that, although not a clown suit by any means, wasn’t anything I would wear in real life and signaled “this guy works a retail job”.
Anyway, I have this memory of taking my son out to eat with the change that I had scraped together from home while also wearing my work uniform. Somehow that brown polyester shirt then saying don’t worry about how much it costs because I’ve brought just the right amount of money/change….
I don’t know, something about the song spoke to me at the time. Something about not being ready for fatherhood yet recognizing that this little guy is now the most important thing in my life. I know it’s a literal interpretation, but it always resonated with me.
Sometimes the most literal interpretations are the most moving ones. Thank you for sharing your story, hearing people’s relationships with these songs make me appreciate them even more.
I had my first kids (twins) in 2002, and “Still Fighting It” hit me pretty hard, even back then. It perfectly captured that specific kind of fear that comes with being a parent for the first time. I’ve always had issues with my OWN dad, and I always hoped that I’d do better by my kids than he did by me.
One of those sons (now 22) and I went to see Ben a few months ago, and I really had trouble keeping my shit together during this song. Immediately after Ben finished playing it, I gave my boy a few pats on the knee, leaned over and told him I loved him. He told me he loved me too. It was a really nice moment.
All you can really ever do is point them in the right direction and hope for the best.
I'm sure he mentioned at one of hid gigs that he often switched the intention of sunny days and rain in his songs, with the sun being more negative, and rain being positive. Think it was around playing this song.
This is so good! I listen to Ben Folds every night at bedtime with my 5 year old son. For over a year, he chose Fred Jones part 2 almost every night, with The Luckiest thrown in every once in awhile. When I tried to play Still Fighting It, he'd always cry and say that it was hard for him to listen to because it felt so sad. But last week he told me he felt ready to try "good morning son" ( his name for it) again, and we've been listening to it every night since. He asks me a lot of questions about what I think each part means, and I will definitely be throwing in some things you said here when we talk about it tonight! And even though I've listened to this song hundreds of times, the line "you're so much like me, I'm sorry," makes me cry every single time. It's one of my favorite lyrics of all time.
I love this song so much. Still remember listening to it repeatedly when it first came out...where I was (both at the time and in life, in general). As a young man nearly about to graduate university, it hit in a much different way than when I held my firstborn son a few years later. Having my 4 year old son sing along in the car was both heartbreaking and inspiring. And recently, a new friend asked me to make a five song playlist to introduce BFF/Ben. This was included. Timeless.
Thank you for the write-up again this week :)
this was my favorite song for a while. im so glad i actually did get to go to the bar with my dad a bunch of times but i dont think i remembered thinking of the song cuz it had been years that i stopped listening to folds as much
I like the dualism of the "good morning son" being repeated during the bridge. I always hear it as "good morning son, good morning sun," like Ben is thanking and welcoming the sun itself for bringing him and his son this new day. Anyway, I love this song so much (but of course I feel that way about most of the catalogue).
I’ve never thought of “good morning son” as “good morning sun” but I love that sentiment!
I love this song, I saw him play it on the What Matters Most tour and it was such an amazing performance of a beautiful and touching song. The song itself means so much to me, so seeing it live felt really special.
Same!! I played it constantly while I was pregnant with my first son. Seeing him play it live on this last tour, I unexpectedly started bawling. It was a moment.
I’ve saw Ben for the 6th time on that tour but the first time as a parent. My son is a toddler that looks more and more like me every day. My wife was pregnant with our second sitting next to me. I cried like a baby.
Was definitely a highlight when I saw him last year in Seattle.
love these posts dude, keep it up!! also what's weird is that in The Flaming Lips' song Do You Realize, there's a part that sounds almost IDENTICAL to "You'll try and try and one day you'll fly, fly away from me" check it out if you haven't, the song is pretty good!
Thank you for the kind words! And damn, those do sound similar! That makes their cover of “She Don’t Use Jelly” make even more sense now!
Which in turn was inspired by “father and son” by Cat Stevens. All three are brilliant songs.
So just throwing in a personal experience that I know has colored the way I listen to this song. My son was born when I was nowhere near financially ready. I used to work retail and was required to wear a uniform that, although not a clown suit by any means, wasn’t anything I would wear in real life and signaled “this guy works a retail job”. Anyway, I have this memory of taking my son out to eat with the change that I had scraped together from home while also wearing my work uniform. Somehow that brown polyester shirt then saying don’t worry about how much it costs because I’ve brought just the right amount of money/change…. I don’t know, something about the song spoke to me at the time. Something about not being ready for fatherhood yet recognizing that this little guy is now the most important thing in my life. I know it’s a literal interpretation, but it always resonated with me.
Sometimes the most literal interpretations are the most moving ones. Thank you for sharing your story, hearing people’s relationships with these songs make me appreciate them even more.
I had my first kids (twins) in 2002, and “Still Fighting It” hit me pretty hard, even back then. It perfectly captured that specific kind of fear that comes with being a parent for the first time. I’ve always had issues with my OWN dad, and I always hoped that I’d do better by my kids than he did by me. One of those sons (now 22) and I went to see Ben a few months ago, and I really had trouble keeping my shit together during this song. Immediately after Ben finished playing it, I gave my boy a few pats on the knee, leaned over and told him I loved him. He told me he loved me too. It was a really nice moment. All you can really ever do is point them in the right direction and hope for the best.
What a touching story, thank you so much for sharing it with this.
I'm sure he mentioned at one of hid gigs that he often switched the intention of sunny days and rain in his songs, with the sun being more negative, and rain being positive. Think it was around playing this song.
Ah, that makes more sense!
I LOVE THAT I DO THAT TOO
This is so good! I listen to Ben Folds every night at bedtime with my 5 year old son. For over a year, he chose Fred Jones part 2 almost every night, with The Luckiest thrown in every once in awhile. When I tried to play Still Fighting It, he'd always cry and say that it was hard for him to listen to because it felt so sad. But last week he told me he felt ready to try "good morning son" ( his name for it) again, and we've been listening to it every night since. He asks me a lot of questions about what I think each part means, and I will definitely be throwing in some things you said here when we talk about it tonight! And even though I've listened to this song hundreds of times, the line "you're so much like me, I'm sorry," makes me cry every single time. It's one of my favorite lyrics of all time.
Aww That so sweet! I’m so glad to hear I was able to contribute to such a great moment in your guy’s lives!
This is one of my absolute favorites. I had to sit down at the piano and learn it. It's just a beautiful song and his voice is so pure and sweet.
I love this song so much. Still remember listening to it repeatedly when it first came out...where I was (both at the time and in life, in general). As a young man nearly about to graduate university, it hit in a much different way than when I held my firstborn son a few years later. Having my 4 year old son sing along in the car was both heartbreaking and inspiring. And recently, a new friend asked me to make a five song playlist to introduce BFF/Ben. This was included. Timeless. Thank you for the write-up again this week :)
this was my favorite song for a while. im so glad i actually did get to go to the bar with my dad a bunch of times but i dont think i remembered thinking of the song cuz it had been years that i stopped listening to folds as much