Underground (Ben Folds Five song)

Ben Folds has spoken of feeling a social outcast at times and finding it hard to make friends as a child because his family was constantly moving. As he found initial success with the band Majosha and then forming Ben Folds Five with Darren Jessee and Robert Sledge, he began to recognize members of his audiences as similar types of outcasts. He noted that these types of people, who were in search of their own identities, would often find themselves gravitating towards the underground scenes (punk, ska, hardcore, etc.) of independent music. They would latch onto the scenes with particular fervor.

"Underground" is both an ode to and castigation of these type of people, as well as the perceived notions of the underground scene looking in from the outside. As Folds says:

It's just exercising artistic freedom to put some different things together that I think are funny. I think it's funny to make a very happy, cabaret-sounding song about the underground of the indie rock world. I think it's funny to take those people and make them dance around like puppets and sing Bee Gees. That's part of why you write. It's the freedom to do stuff like that. If there's a statement in it at all – and it's not the heaviest song obviously – it's that the underground or indie scene or whatever you wanna call it is just a social club. It's just fun. They're not planning the next revolution. People get so fucking serious about it, but it's just like if you've got all the credit to apply for a country club, they're going to ask you the same questions.[5]

A catchy, raucous romp laced with falsetto, the track became the first international commercial single and first U.S. radio single from the album Ben Folds Five. It introduced the band to the world and remains the most well-known track on the album[6] and one of the most well-known songs of the band's career, second only to "Brick".

The song was among the most popular performed at Ben Folds Five concerts. It featured a degree of audience participation, including coordinated sound effects and retorts to various lines throughout the song. Folds continues to perform the song occasionally during his solo career.

Two distinct edited versions of the song exist. A radio edit version appears with the original album cut on a 1995 promotional CD sent to radio programmers in the United States,[7] as well as a CD sent to the United Kingdom for the same purpose.[7] The radio edit version also appears on a second promotional CD for the United Kingdom released in 1996.[7]

The second edited version, a shortened version of the album cut of the song, was released as a commercial CD single in the United Kingdom in April 1996 by Vital Distribution for Passenger/Caroline.[8] This version was released on a 7" vinyl single in the U.K. at the same time.[8] A second 7" vinyl single was released in the U.K. in September 1996.[8]

A live audio version of the song was released in August, 1996, in the United Kingdom by Vital Distribution as part of a 2-disc CD single set.[8] Recorded August 12, 1995, at Ziggy's in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, by John Alagia and Doug Derryberry,[8] this live version appears with the album cut of the song on the second disc of the set. The first disc of the set features the second edited studio version of the song.

The live audio version also appears on the 1998 compilation and rarities album Naked Baby Photos.[9]

A live video version, filmed in New York on June 9, 1997, for the PBS program Sessions at West 54th, appears on the 2001 music concert DVD Ben Folds Five – The Complete Sessions at West 54th.[10]

The music video was directed by David Hale.[11] It depicts the band performing in an Old West saloon as Western fighting and other hijinks occur around them.

• Ben Folds – piano, vocals
• Darren Jessee – drums, vocals, percussion
• Robert Sledge – bass, vocals