I Just Realized What Brick by Ben Fold Five Is About

[moe.ron]

It's deep man. It's about a couple of teenager having an abortion. Never realized it till I finally actually read the lyrics.

6 am
day after Christmas
I throw some clothes on in the dark
the smell of cold
carseat is freezing
the world is sleeping
I am numb

Up the stairs
to her apartment
she is balled up on the couch
Her mom and dad
went down to Charlotte
they're not home to find us out

and we drive
now that I've found someone
I'm feeling more alone
than I ever have before

She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly

They call her name
at 7:30
I pace around the parking lot
and I walk down to buy her flowers
and sell some gifts that I got

Can't you see?
It's not me your dying for
now she's feeling more alone
than she ever has before

She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly

As weeks went by
it showed that she was not fine
they told me son
it's time to tell the truth and
she broke down
and I broke down
cause I was tired
of lying

driving back
to her apartment
for the moment we're alone
and she's alone
and I'm alone
and now I know it

She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly

[Optimist Prime]

Not teenagers.

[Imthachamp]

real americans

[Munchkin03]

It's autobiographical. Ben Folds himself has discussed it in articles. Maybe when I have time, I can find an article that mentions it.

[xok85xo]

"The song 'specifically' is about a teenage couple having an abortion. For some reason I'm not very good at talking about that, but that's what it is. But hopefully there's more to it than that. I mean I like to write 'specifically,' and at the same time it's good if it can mean a lot of different things 'cause not everyone's gone through that experience . . . . You know, when something traumatic happens between two people, like sometimes a married couple will have a son or daughter that's killed, say, and they'll end up splitting up afterwards. I think a lot of that is because you realize that extreme, dramatic situations tend to isolate people, 'cause people feel things in a different way and you realize that you can't relate anymore."

"Yeah, but it's the same kind of thing where it was all kind of coincidental. It was several things coming together at once. The first thing is that the chorus--'She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly'--was Darren's, the drummer. He showed that to me a couple of years ago. He wrote that. In and of itself, out in the air, there it is. It never really meant anything. It had total capacity to be something. And he has a lot of songs that are at least that good. For parts. I'm into parts--ambiguous things that seem to feel and mean a lot of things. So I was thinking, That is kind of in my head. I sat down at the piano one night and just started playing the intro to Brick and started singing the verse. And then I was realizing it was making me think of something else that was on my mind, this thing I went through in high school. And that's the way it works. You just start to put it together."

"I think what the band did on 'Brick' is really neat, too, because it wasn't my bag to play it that way. There was something collaborative about the way it came together. It's cool."

"Sometimes it seemed like it was more perfect using an upright piano. So we used an upright piano on ballads, actually. Something about the old sound of the upright kind of made the ballads sadder. So, we used that on a couple songs."

"I feel pretty good about that one, cuz I feel like it was pretty responsible. Like it was a true story, it was something at the time I wasn’t as comfortably with talking about. But hell, probably a couple of million people have heard it now. But, yeah, in high school me and my girlfriend had to have an abortion, or she had to have the abortion, but I had to go through it with her, and, so that’s what the song was about. And when I wrote the song - and Darren helped me write it - when I wrote the song, I was really conscious of not being sensational with it, and not taking it to the point that it was an issue song or trying to push the buttons too hard, just try to say, "Okay, here’s what I felt about it, and here’s what it feels like". If the song is a little bit sad to you, you can multiply that times a hundred that’s what it’s really like."

[MysticCat]

Originally posted by xok85xo
But, yeah, in high school me and my girlfriend had to have an abortion, or she had to have the abortion, but I had to go through it with her, and, so that’s what the song was about. And when I wrote the song - and Darren helped me write it - when I wrote the song, I was really conscious of not being sensational with it, and not taking it to the point that it was an issue song or trying to push the buttons too hard, just try to say, "Okay, here’s what I felt about it, and here’s what it feels like"

He says pretty much the same thing on the (awesome) "Ben Folds Live" CD.

[DZHBrown]

My sophomore year in college, we had to choose a song to "dissect". I chose "Brick" and analyzed it as being about abortion. At least I was right! I think it's a great song.

[Lil' Hannah]

I was watching some talk show several years ago (right about when the song came out) and the host asked "so who was the chick that had the abortion?" and Ben walked offstage.

[Sistermadly]

Ben Folds is a genius. Other than "Brick", he has another song "Carrying Cathy" about being a family member (and ultimately a pallbearer) of someone who was suicidal. It's one of the few songs that makes me cry whenever I hear it.

[White_Chocolate]

i knew that when he did the interview
great song about life
just like the verve pipe's 'freshmen'
that song is great but it's sad

[DWAlphaGam]

I *heart* Ben Folds.

I have a cousin who had an abortion, and she can't listen to "Brick" (or "Heart-Shaped Box" by Nirvana) because it's too painful for her.