Ben Folds Five

Do It Anyway

6 Meanings

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Do It Anyway Lyrics

You might put your love and trust on the line
It’s risky, people love to tear that down, let ‘em try
Do it anyway, risk it anyway

If you’re paralyzed by a voice in your head
It’s the standing still that should be scaring you instead
Go on and do it anyway
Do it anyway

There will be times you might leap before you look
There’ll be times you like the cover and that’s precisely why you’ll love the book
Do it anyway, do it anyway

Tell me what I said I’d never do
Tell me what I said I’d never say
Read me off a list of the things that I used to not like but now I think are okay

Sometimes it’s not subjective, wrong and right
Deep down you know it’s downright wrong but you’re invincible tonight
So you, do it anyway
It’s done, you did it

Despite your grand attempts the chips are set to fall
And all the stories you might weave cannot negotiate them all
Do it anyway
Be honest, anyway

So tell me what I said I’d never do
Tell me what I said I’d never say
Read me off a list of the things that I used to not like
But now I think are O-
KAAYYYY, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, woah, woah, woah, woah

It’s gonna be so very hard to say
And watch the trust and joy all drain from her innocent face
But you must, do it anyway
It sucks but, do it anyway

Call it surrender but you know that’s a joke
And the punch line is you were actually never in control
But still, surrender anyway

Tell me what you said you’d never do
Tell me what you said you’d never say
Read me off that list of things
‘Cause I used to not to like you now I think you’re O-
KAAYYYY, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, woah, woah, woah, woah

Everybody knows it, you just gotta do it anyway

Do it anyway, do it anyway, do it anyway, do it anyway, do it anyway, do it anyway, do it anyway, do it any

'Cause you don’t do nothing to avoid some punishment
You won’t do nothing, you won’t do nothing
Gotta do it, do it, do it anyway
Do it anyway

Submitted by

librarysteg On May 06, 2012

You might put your love and trust on the line
It’s risky, people love to tear that down, let ‘em try
Do it anyway, risk it anyway

If you’re paralyzed by a voice in your head
It’s the standing still that should be scaring you instead
Go on and do it anyway
Do it anyway

There will be times you might leap before you look
There’ll be times you like the cover and that’s precisely why you’ll love the book
Do it anyway, do it anyway

Tell me what I said I’d never do
Tell me what I said I’d never say
Read me off a list of the things that I used to not like but now I think are okay

Sometimes it’s not subjective, wrong and right
Deep down you know it’s downright wrong but you’re invincible tonight
So you, do it anyway
It’s done, you did it

Despite your grand attempts the chips are set to fall
And all the stories you might weave cannot negotiate them all
Do it anyway
Be honest, anyway

So tell me what I said I’d never do
Tell me what I said I’d never say
Read me off a list of the things that I used to not like
But now I think are O- 
KAAYYYY, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, woah, woah, woah, woah

It’s gonna be so very hard to say
And watch the trust and joy all drain from her innocent face
But you must, do it anyway
It sucks but, do it anyway

Call it surrender but you know that’s a joke
And the punch line is you were actually never in control
But still, surrender anyway

Everybody knows it, you just gotta do it anyway

Do it anyway, do it anyway, do it anyway, do it anyway, do it anyway, do it anyway, do it anyway, do it any

'Cause you don’t do nothing to avoid some punishment
You won’t do nothing, you won’t do nothing
Gotta do it, do it, do it anyway
Do it anyway

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Keep it true to the song

Fix what’s wrong, but don’t rewrite what the artist wrote. Stick to the official released version — album booklet, label site, verified lyric video, etc. If you’re guessing, pause and double-check.

Respect the structure

Songs have rhythm. Pages do too. Leave line breaks where they belong. Don’t smash things together or add extra empty space just for looks.

Punctuation counts (but vibe-editing doesn’t)

Correct typos? Yes. Re-punctuating a whole verse because it ‘looks better’? Probably not. Keep capitalization and punctuation close to the official source.

Don’t mix versions

If you’re editing the explicit version, keep it explicit. If it’s the clean version, keep it clean. No mashups.

Let the lyrics be lyrics

This isn’t the place for interpretations, memories, stories, or trivia — that’s what comments are for. Keep metadata, translations, and bracketed stage directions out unless they’re officially part of the song.

Edit lightly

If two lines are wrong… fix the two lines. No need to bulldoze the whole page. Think ‘surgical,’ not ‘remix.’

When in doubt, ask the crowd

Not sure what they’re singing in that fuzzy bridge? Drop a question in the comments and let the music nerds swarm. Someone always knows.

librarysteg

Submitter

2012-05-06 22:46:23

6 Meanings

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by shawkinsl

12y ago

I think this song is really a story; it's not list of static lyrics, but rather some kind of narrative that grows as it progresses through the song.

Parts of this song could be telling a story about being in a relationship with someone you're not actually in love with.

"There'll be times you'll like the cover and that's precisely why you'll love the book" could be talking about finding someone physically attractive, and letting that push you into a relationship that might not be genuine. At this point, whoever the song is about hasn't figured that all out yet; he still "likes the book [read: relationship]," even though it was just the physical attraction that pulled him in.

"Deep down you know it's downright wrong but you're invincible tonight" could be a sexual encounter; at this point, the subject knows he shouldn't be in the relationship anymore, but he's still going to "do it anyway."

"It's gonna be so very hard to say And watch the trust and joy all drain from her innocent face" ... "Call it surrender but you know that that's a joke And the punchline is you were never actually in control"

These two lines are what I based my guess off of, really. The first is telling how the subject has to eventually confront his lack of feeling in the relationship; even though he's been lying for whatever amount of time, he's going to have to break her heart. The next line describes the subject dealing with having hurt someone else by not having reciprocal feelings, and brings up the fact that who we love is generally not something we are in control of as humans.

Other guesses include a narrative about cheating on someone, or, along scarier lines of thought, perhaps a story about alcohol and rape.

I think this song is really a story; it's not list of static lyrics, but rather some kind of narrative that grows as it progresses through the song.

Parts of this song could be telling a story about being in a relationship with someone you're not actually in love with.

"It's gonna be so very hard to say
And watch the trust and joy all drain from her innocent face"
...
"Call it surrender but you know that that's a joke
And the punchline is you were never actually in control"

Other guesses include a narrative about cheating on someone, or, along scarier lines of thought, perhaps a story about alcohol and rape.

Reason:

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by goodreverend

14y ago

This song arose out of Ben Folds not being able to play a song (or not wanting to -- perhaps it was "Rock This Bitch" -- I don't remember, exactly), to which a fan yelled, "do it anyway!".

A video of the resulting improvisation, on July 21, 2011 at the Wiltern in Los Angeles, is on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmZ-90rG0Us

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by mtwykstr

13y ago

Holy crap. He's playing the frickin' banjo on a piano! Unreal.

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by BonnieT

9y ago

"You might put your love and trust on the line it's risky people love to let tear that down let 'em try. Do it anyway"

"Sometimes it's not subjective: wrong and right deep down you know it's downright wrong but you're invincible tonight so you do it anyway. It's done, you did it."

"There will be times you might leap before you look, there'll be times you like the color and that's precisely why you'll love the book"

"It's gonna be so very hard to say and watch the trust and joy all drain from her innocent face but you must do it anyway it sucks but do it anyway!"

He took advantage of someone and didn't really love them and knew it was wrong so he broke up with her.

My Interpretation

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by BonnieT 9y ago

Cover* sorry. He's not racist.

by mike MOD

14y ago

You can listen to the new track here:

<a href="http://hasiefardiasyah.tumblr.com/post/22580765328/in-case-my-profile-picture-on-this-blog-didnt">http://hasiefardiasyah.tumblr.com/post/22580765328/in-case-my-profile-picture-on-this-blog-didnt</a>

Link(s)

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by lonedoggy

12y ago

So awesome to hear Ben's piano again.

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