Ben Folds can be a good songwriter. I liked Ben Folds Five and Rocking the Suburbs. And I might have even liked Way to Normal had I not managed to stumble across what appears to be the backstory behind his new song, “Brainwascht”.

In short: Ben gets divorced from his 3rd wife Frally and in the process loses friends Fleming & John, who write a song about their disillusionment with him (“Wrong”, available on their Myspace page), which is then mocked in “Brainwascht”.

All of this would be harmless, insider Nashville-music-scene fun, until Ben has to go and write this:

You know there’s something in the Bible about forgiveness and love

And more importantly about throwing stones

and what your house is made of

You might reflect upon your own arrangement

’94, getting blown in your basement (while your wife slept)

That corrosive, take-the-cheap-shot attitude colors all the poignant stuff Ben’s written over the years (e.g. “Still Fighting It”, “Carrying Cathy”) and makes him sound like a middle-aged vindictive dick. Sad.

UPDATE: Changed the backstory link to one that was less off-topic.