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Free Coffee Lyrics

Called in sick one day
stepped out my front door
squinted up at the sky
And strapped on my backpack
Got into a band
and when I returned I had
Ex-wives and children,
Boxes of photographs

And they gave me some food
And they didn't charge me
And they gave me some coffee
And they didn't charge me

And when I was broke I needed it more
But now that I'm rich, they give me coffee

Eating an ice-cream cone
Texting with my thumbs
The state of the asshole
Who pulled into my lane
Life could be longer than it's cracked up to be
You get new cells every seven years
I feel seven today;
It's a good day to die again

And they gave me some food
And they didn't charge me
And they gave me some coffee
And they didn't charge me

And when I was broke I needed it more
But now that I'm rich, they give me coffee
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Cover art for Free Coffee lyrics by Ben Folds

it's, "flipping off the asshole who pulled into my lane"

Cover art for Free Coffee lyrics by Ben Folds

Couple corrections--It's "Got into a van" instead of band, and you left out the last verse that goes "Now they save me my place/ Over there in the corner/ and I never get tickets/ now I only get warnings/ But when I was broke I needed it more/ but now that I'm rich they give me free coffee."

Anyway, I think the meaning is fairly obvious, he joined a band and his life changed! The song highlights and makes fun of the fact that nothing's for free when you're a nobody, but once you're famous people just start giving you free shit.

The story Ben tells when he plays Toronto/Rochester is that the song emerged from a coffe shop in Rochester (Java's) by the Eastman School of Music. The version he plays in Rochester is different, but the chorus is identical.

He played it in '07 at the RIT Field House, and again a few weeks back at Waterstreet Music Hall in Rochester, NY.

I went to a coffee house Right next to the music conservatory And they gave me some food And they didn't charge me And they gave me some coffee And they didn't charge me And when I was broke, I needed it more And...

Cover art for Free Coffee lyrics by Ben Folds

free pointless shit

Also, "the state of the asshole" should be "flippin' off the asshole."

 
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