A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons
By Ben Folds
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Ben Folds is an internationally celebrated musician, singer-songwriter and former frontman of the alternative rock band, Ben Folds Five, beloved for songs such as ‘Brick’, ‘You Don’t Know Me’, ‘Rockin’ the Suburbs’ and ‘The Luckiest’.
In A Dream About Lightning Bugs, Folds looks back at his life so far in a charming, funny and wise chronicle of his artistic coming of age, infused with the wry observations of a natural storyteller. He opens up about finding his voice as a musician, becoming a rock anti-hero, and hauling a baby grand piano on and off stage for every performance.
From growing up in working class North Carolina amid the race and class tensions that shaped his early songwriting, to painful life lessons he learned the hard way, he also ruminates on music in the digital age, the absurdity of life on the road, and the challenges of sustaining a multi-decade, multi-faceted career in the music business.
A Dream About Lightning Bugs embodies what Folds has been singing about for years: Smile like you’ve got nothing to prove because it hurts to grow up, and life flies by in seconds.
‘I’m gonna learn to read for this’ Josh Groban
‘I read this in one glorious, giant gulp. As a fan and a musician, this is truly a gift ... moments for me to geek out, moments to laugh and cry and many fragments of pure, hard won wisdom and honesty’ Jamie Cullum
‘A Dream About Lightning Bugs reads like its author: intelligent, curious, unapologetically punk, and funny as hell. This intimate look at his life from his own unique perspective is a rare and unforgettable gift that does what Ben Folds always has done for me as an artist and a friend: encourages me to be more myself, with a lot of swear words’ Sara Bareilles
‘A masterfully written memoir, and so much more. Folds imbues this literary work with keen insight and humor to create an elegant and moving tribute to art and life itself.’ Daniel Levitin, author of #1 New York Times bestseller This Is Your Brain on Music and The Organized Mind
‘Besides being super talented, and an incredibly poignant and multifaceted musician, Ben Folds is a fantastic author. I couldn’t put this book down – and not just because I taped it to my hand. Ben takes us into his mind and into his process from the very beginnings of his childhood to where he is today – one of the greatest musicians and writers that has ever graced the art.’ Bob Saget
'A Dream About Lightning Bugs is an insightful, touching and often hilarious look back at [Folds’s] life and career, told with wit and good old-fashioned Southern warmth – like Truman Capote, but with more F-bombs.' People
'Delightful . . . Singer-songwriter Folds explores the ways in which music shaped his life and offers glimpses into the process of making music. . . . Folds’s fans will take great pleasure in this charming and insightful memoir.' Publishers Weekly
'A memoir of sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll that’s long on wry humor and short on – well, sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll ... A pleasure for fans and encouragement for novices to tune in.' Kirkus Reviews
Ben Folds
Ben Folds is a celebrated musician who has created a unique body of genre-bending music that includes pop albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, and collaborations with artists ranging from Sara Bareilles to Regina Spektor to William Shatner. One of his recent albums, ‘So There’, a blend of pop songs and his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, soared to #1 on both the Billboard classical and classical crossover charts. In 2017 he was named the first ever artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. An avid photographer, Folds is a member of the prestigious Sony Artisans of Imagery. Folds is also an outspoken champion for arts education and music therapy. A Dream About Lightning Bugs is his first book. https://www.benfolds.com/book
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Reviews for A Dream About Lightning Bugs
20 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ben Folds describing his life and time, covering motivation and personal life philosophy. Made me very nostalgic for for late 90s and early 00s albums (listening eventuated).
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I’ve been a Ben Folds fan since junior high. I loved reading about his childhood, time in Nashville, the beginning of Ben Folds Five, and his rise as a solo musician. The memoir is packed with anecdotes, bad language, his irreverent sense of humor, and life advice. From immature moments on stage to becoming a parent, he opens up. He doesn’t pull any punches recognizing his own faults, selfishness, & and struggles. As a fan, I was not disappointed!