These are The Bens, a super-group comprising of Ben Folds, Ben Lee and Ben Kweller, artists who all did time in my record collection before joining together like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers into a huge unstoppable indie robot of destruction. Or something.
Ben Folds - Rockin' The Suburbs
Anyway, they seemed the perfect choice to illustrate our choice of Ben, Benjamin and Benny songs, although you guys were also kind enough to suggest...
Jim in Dubai...
Little Benny & The Masters - Who Comes to Boogie
Funky.
Jorge Ben - Taj Mahal (Unconsciously Plagiarised by Rod Stewart on Do Ya Thing I'm Sexy)
Unconsciously?
Benny - Die Wieder Frei (German Ca Plane Pour Moi)
There's German version!? Brilliant!
Then came Brian with these doozies...
Benny Profane (known by a few for the C86-era "hit" Hang Fire)
Couldn't find Hang Fire on t'internet, Brian, but I did find this one...
LaBrenda Ben (lost Motown artist from very early '60s, beautiful voice)
LaBrenda Ben & The Beljeans - The Chaperone
Lost Motown truly is the gift that keeps giving.
Benny Benjamin (drummer, legendary Motown studio band the Funk Brothers)
The internet seems mostly convinced that Benny played drums on one of the greatest records ever made... any excuse to squeeze that in.
The Isley Brothers - This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You)
Bennie Benjamin (songwriter best known for Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood)
I doubt you'll object to me playing this version, Brian...
Elvis Costello - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
Benny Goodman ('nuff said)
Benny Goodman - Stompin' At The Savoy
Quite.
What about The Swede?
If we're talking performers I'd go for Benmont Tench, who has played with all manner of people, not least Tom Petty and Bob Dylan.
He's pretty good on his own too...
What about George? Well, he's obviously on commission from these guys...
Before anyone else gets there...........Benjamin and Barnaby Green, one of Portugal's top pop acts!
Benjamim & Barnaby Keen - Madrugada
And then there's my millennial hipster politico friend, Ben, who is way too young and cool to participate in blog-reading. He's of the podcast generation. Which, if you ask me, are just blogs for people too lazy to read. Anyway, Ben suggests...
Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie
Ben's choice of song is a b-side ("because, of course...") cover of a Freedy Johnston song...
Death Cab For Cutie - Bad Reputation
I should take this opportunity to point out I have a Ben Gibbard live solo track in my hard drive (plus all the obvious Death Cab stuff) and it too is a cover...
Ben Gibbard - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Anyway, more from my millennial hipster politico friend, Ben later.
At this point, I feel I should remind you all of the rules to this game. We're not after artists with the name Ben (although I'm happy to give them a mention if they're of the calibre of the Bens above)... but songs that feature them.
John Medd likes to have his cake and eat it...
Here's a twofer:
Ben Webster - the best tenor sax player of his, or indeed any, generation - with Ben's Blues.
Here's another one from me... kind of.
André 3000 - A Life in the Day of Benjamin André
But what of the SONGS?
Here's some you suggested that didn't quite make the cut, starting with Martin...
What have you got, Walter?
There are many Benny's around:
The Fall - Who Makes The Nazis?
That one did make me smile. Thanks, Walter.
Rigid Digit, meanwhile, has a contentious argument regarding good & bad...
The Good:
Iron Maiden - The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
The Bad: in We Didn't Start The Fire, Billy Joel (not Benny Joel) lists:
It runs to 4 verses before he realises that he's only got to 1963, so compresses the next 30 years into a single verse.
Now even if you didn't know (which you do) that Billy is one of my favourite artists, RD... well, I never understood the hate that's always thrown at this track. It's almost become cool to hate on it. But even though it's not Billy's finest hour, I will defend it to my dying day. It's a great pop song.
The bleedin' awful (although some may like it): that song by Wacko Jacko about a rat.
Yes, we'll get to that in a moment.
First though, here are the scrapings from my hard-drive...
This week's runner up comes from Brian. It would have made the Top Ten on its title alone... had I been able to find a link to it anywhere online.
The Sugarplastic - Ben Takes a Walk to Lose Company and on the Way He Sees Some Ice Skaters
OK... onto The Top Ten...
10. Michael Jackson - Ben
Let's start with the elephant in the room, shall we?
As for Ben songs, I don't have much. Will there ever be a time when it's ok to enjoy MJ songs in a guilt-free manner? I always loved the rat song so hope it does end up in there but would understand why it might not.
What about my millennial hipster politico friend, Ben? If anyone can advise us on such a PC-minefield, surely it's him? Except... turns out it's a little more complicated than that.
I'm named after the Ben that Michael Jackson sang about in the 80s.
Ouch. So you're named after a rat?
No, that sick kid who died in the hospital in the 80s.
Now I have to admit that I have no recollection of this myself, but my millennial hipster politico friend Ben claims that MJ sang the song as a tribute to a sick child back in the decade he was only born right at the end of. I did question what he knew of the 80s based on his tender years, to which he replied:
I use Boys From The Black Stuff and Robert Palmer as the two extremes, then just make assumptions about what goes in between.
(This is the kind of reply that makes me feel like Ben and I should do our own middle-aged loser vs. hipster politico podcast... however, the likelihood of me ever having the time to indulge in such fripperies seems zero.)
Anyway, the point is, I never really got an answer on whether it's OK to listen to Michael Jackson songs these days. So I'll play this instead...
I mean, you can't argue with George McFly, can you?
9. Lee Scratch Perry - Big Ben Rock
Thanks to The Swede. Didn't sound at all like I imagined it would. I like to be surprised.
On the subject of Big Big, Jim In Dubai gives us...
The Monochrome Set - Big Ben Bongo
Brian suggests...
While The Soul Of A Collector offers a favourite of mine from years gone by...
If we are allowed to include clocks in the figurin', then I am guessing there are a number of songs alluding to London's famous timepiece, the best of which I can come up with is:
The Beautiful South - From Under The Covers
And how could we let Big Ben pass without mentioning this...?
(Be warned, if you click on the link you'll be whistling that all week.)
8. The Cryan' Shames - Ben Franklin's Almanac
Suggested by both Charity Chic and C, who adds...
Ah, Ben/Benjamin, my first love was called Ben, and I have fond memories of holding hands with him on a Summer afternoon. I was only six (and so was he, I hasten to add!)
As for songs - I brought Mr SDS (who is not called Ben) in on this one and he came up with a slice of '60s garage pop called 'Ben Franklin's Almanac' by the Cryan' Shames. None from me, I'm afraid.
Because Bobbie Gentry deserves a place in any Top Ten I can get her into.
6. Steve Earle - Ben McCulloch
Top suggestion from Charity Chic and Lynchie.
This one was suggested by my millennial hipster politico friend Ben, who always insists he isn't a Benjamin himself.
I should point out that when I asked him to contribute to this post, I did tell him that the choice of name for this week was in no way down to him. Subconsciously, however, it probably was, since our ongoing text chats about music, film, comics and the occasional bit of politics (which I only pretend to understand) over the past few months have been one of the only things that have kept me sane. I should thank him for that. But I probably won't because neither of us do sincerity very well.
Ben's lyrical suggestion was this...
British born rapper who wears a Doctor Doom mask to perform and the song features the line:
Getting Benjamins like Nettenyahu
...speaking to the absolute corruption of Nettenyahu as the leader of the Israeli state whilst putting a spin on the traditional rap conceit of hustling, suggesting it's not always a good thing.
Don't worry, I didn't understand that either. But I do like that he wears a Dr. Doom mask.
4. Ben Folds - Hiroshima (B-B-B-Benny Hits His Head)
Oh, look, it's that Ben Folds guy again. I don't feel too bad about featuring him twice (as I've long been a huge fan) because Alyson emphatically stated:
Ben Folds for the artist.
And Martin added:
Plus anything by the always-excellent Ben Folds Five.
This isn't actually by the Five, but it does owe more than a little debt to this...
(As does Ben's whole career, come to think of it.)
3. Elton John - Bennie & The Jets
I'll start with the obvious one, said Charity Chic, and indeed it was, so a few of you also suggested it. It's a great live performance, lyrically satirising the music industry of the 70s, with more than just a passing nod to Ziggy Stardust, I reckon, care of Bernie Taupin.
And if you don't like that, perhaps you'll prefer the Beastie Boys... ahem... "sloppy version"...
Beastie Boys - Benny & The Jets
(They changed the spelling, not me.)
Top of Brian's list and almost at the top of mine. Brilliant stuff.
He says he'd like to fuck Uma Thurman
I don't think that he'll get too far
With either those dreams
He's got his eyes on a pair of Pumas
He says I should cut my hair like Uma's
If he thinks I'd go along with
His sordid fancies
1. Shack - Streets Of Kenny
I've got to give this week's win to John Medd though. It's only a lyrical nod (in a song already featured in Kenny Wednesdays, way back when)... but what a song!
