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Brainwashed Lyrics
If you need to write a letter, write a letter
If you'd rather make a phone call, pick the phone up
And call me
But if you had to say it all in a pop song
Couldn't you have least have written me a good one
She's Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you too
She's Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you too
Or was just a simple rewind and erase?
Was your mind squeaky clean in the first place?
If you got to write an essay do your research
If you got to stick your nose in a boy and girl fight
hear both sides first
There something wrong being copied on a memo
In the form of a bad country demo
She's Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you too
She's Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you too
Does it follow from your head to your mouth now?
Do you wonder what you're even talking about?
I gotta say
It's pretty gay
Trading jabs with pop songs
Maybe next time we should just have a dance-off?
A dance-off
You know there's something in the bible about forgiveness and love
And more importantly 'bout not throwing stones and and what your house is made of
You might reflect upon your own arrangement
Ninety-four and blown in your basement
She's Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you too
She's Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you too
She's brainwashed you
Integrity
She's brainwashed you
Family
She's brainwashed you
With a rhyming dictionary
If you'd rather make a phone call, pick the phone up
And call me
Couldn't you have least have written me a good one
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you too
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you too
Was your mind squeaky clean in the first place?
If you got to stick your nose in a boy and girl fight
hear both sides first
In the form of a bad country demo
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you too
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you too
Do you wonder what you're even talking about?
It's pretty gay
Trading jabs with pop songs
A dance-off
And more importantly 'bout not throwing stones and and what your house is made of
You might reflect upon your own arrangement
Ninety-four and blown in your basement
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you too
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you
Brainwashed you too
Integrity
She's brainwashed you
Family
She's brainwashed you
With a rhyming dictionary
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I could've sworn the last line was "online rhyming dictionary."
at his concert he was talking about how the songs about someone who wrote a not very nice pop song about him so he wrote one back. and when a guy in the crowd screamed "TELL US WHO!" ben made up a song on the spot: "im never going to fucking tell ya" then he goes on to sing "its not r.e.m., its not u2, its not.... michael jackson, its not miley cyrus" and there were some more people i just cant rememer them
but yeah he actually said its not u2 so idk
There's certainly more than just one person to consider in this song. You've got the musician who actually wrote the "pop song", and then the "girl" who "brainwashed" that person as well as some other unknown victim(s) of brainwashing ("she's brainwashed you too"). Then there's the songwriter's wife and another intimate companion -- I hear the last verse as "in '94 getting blown in your basement (while your wife slept)." So a whole cast of characters in this musical soap opera.
BTW, going by the track listings on Way to Normal and Stems and Seeds, the official title of this song is "Brainwascht", while the "fake" version kept the spelling "Brainwashed", rather than the other way around.
You raise some interesting questions, but I think the cast of characters is not as vast as it at first seems. The comment by AHoyBobby really sums up the backstory of this song, which puts the entire song into context.
You raise some interesting questions, but I think the cast of characters is not as vast as it at first seems. The comment by AHoyBobby really sums up the backstory of this song, which puts the entire song into context.
The woman who brainwashed John & Flemming is of course, Frally, Ben's now ex wife.
The woman who brainwashed John & Flemming is of course, Frally, Ben's now ex wife.
I believe the correct lyrics would be "She's brainwashed you two," (instead of "you too") -- thus meaning that she (Frally) has brainwashed the pair of them (John & Flemming).
I believe the correct lyrics would be "She's brainwashed you two," (instead of "you too") -- thus meaning that she (Frally) has brainwashed the pair of them (John & Flemming).
Even if I'm wrong, and the lyrics are "she's brainwashed you...
Even if I'm wrong, and the lyrics are "she's brainwashed you too," , he could still be referring to John & Flemming. (ie: she's brainwashed you, John, and you too, Flemming.)
The jab about "getting blown in your basement while your wife slept", is referring to John cheating on his (then) wife in '94, while Flemming was his mistress. John & Flemming released their first album together in '95 and became an official couple right around the time John's marriage was falling apart. Ben is accusing John & Flemming of hypocrisy by essentially calling John a cheater and Flemming a homewrecker.
John Mark Painter and Fleming McWilliams (Fleming & John) were good friends of Ben and Frally, recording Fear Of Pop Volume 1 together in 1998 before Ben and Frally got married and continuing to collaborate in the years to follow. When they split in 2006, John & Fleming apparently got "brainwashed" by Frally and took her side, penning the song "Wrong" in 2007.
"Wrong" qualifies as a lame pop song and a "bad country demo" that rhymes "integrity" with "family" (things Ben mocks specifically in "Brainwascht"). In regards to the "glass houses" verse, John & Fleming released their first album in 1995, so presumably John was getting blown by Fleming in his basement in '94 while his (soon to be ex) wife slept. So what they blasted Ben for in "Wrong" is exactly what they had done 10 years earlier.
some one wrote a song jabbing at ben. this is his reply.
I WANT TO KNOW WHO WROTE THE SONG
See Fleming & John's song called "Wrong"...
Integrity... Family...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oopfb8DSj_Q
Google "fleming+brainwascht" and you'll find what you need.
yeah, it would seem that this song is his reply to a song written negatively about him.
possibly a country artist? the line says "in the form of a bad country demo," but at the same time, he also mentions pop songs twice , so...
anybody hear about any drama that this song might be about?
well country and pop can be intertwined, such as Taylor Swift or Carrie Underwood. Not that they would have written a song about Ben Folds, but you get my point.
Amanda Palmer has an explanation in one of her blog entries: http://tinyurl.com/3wcf34
so that link didn't get me anywhere. Wanna paraphrase?
really sorry, that particular link was incredibly long.
really sorry, that particular link was incredibly long.
http://dresdendollsdiary.blogspot.com/2008/08/bringing-charges-against-ben-folds.html
http://dresdendollsdiary.blogspot.com/2008/08/bringing-charges-against-ben-folds.html