Song A Day - Ben Folds & The National Symphony Orchestra - Kristine From The 7th Grade
Brandon's SAD (Song A Day) Newsletter
Ben Folds & The National Symphony Orchestra - Kristine From The 7th Grade
From the 2025 album Ben Folds Live With The National Symphony Orchestra
This song is a character study that spins out and tells a whole story from personal observations. We all know a "Kristine" in our lives. I can name a couple of them off the top of my head - someone who you remember joyfully who has gotten brainwashed as an adult and lives their life in anger and fear (and wants the world to know about it). The thing is, rather than simply demonizing or mocking the person, which is the easy way to go, Ben Folds treats Kristine with compassion. The song is full of lines like "this world can be wonderful too. Do you ever see it that way?" and "Oh what a shame, this disease that makes strangers of friends. These days it's just us's and them's." if I ever need a reminder of the humanity of folks with radicalized thinking, I listen to this song. And this new version with the NSO is beautifully orchestrated. Given what's happened with the Kennedy Center, the lyrical content of the song has so much more weight because this was recorded at the there before it was taken over
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