about my musical comedy. you know, the kinks, remember, they were writing dedicated follower of fashion and i want to be like david. like, they were doing musical satire, and the beatles were winking and nodding and giggling through the whole thing, until they got super serious. but so much of it was sardonic. and ben folds definitely, with rockin the suburbs and all that, and one angry dwarf and all that, was right on some sort of cusp between pop and satire. 0ne angry dwarf and 200. solemn faces. ..solemn faces, which is the opening track on this album. great title, isn t it? forever and ever amen. yeah. # now i m big and important # 0ne angry dwarf # and 200 solemn faces # and you # if you really want to see me, check # the papers and the tv.# that s a revenge song, isn t it? yeah, i guess. you have written your own revenge song in the past, haven t you? i have written lots of revenge songs, yeah. there s one in particular. who is phil daoust? 0h, phil.
because dahl was huge in my childhood. and, yeah, itjust has completely changed my life. matilda just changed my life. # r-e-v-o-l-t-i-n- revolting times! # we ll s-i-n-g # u-s-i-n-g # we ll be r-e-v-o-l-t-i-n-g # it is 2-l-8-4-u # we r e volting # there are themes in roald dahl s matilda, that of revenge, anarchy, using your wits to overcome an adversary, a violent adversary as well. is that part of what appealed for you? i think so. i think i really like writing from children s point of view, a kid unpacking the fact that she realises she s different from other people. it was just such a joy to pour all my 37 year old knowledge into a six year old genius. # and when i grow up i will be smart enough
of this piano. it sort of gave me permission to go, oh, that thing i do naturally, which isjust bash the hell out of a piano and that kind of aggressive attitude to the piano, i don t have to sit there like, you know, a jazz or a classical player. i can have my own. there is a place for pop. it s a rock and roll attitude to the keyboard. that s exactly right. ..which ben folds brought, but also, there was a kind of a literate sensibility to the lyrics as well. there s a complexity, isn t there? there s also a very sardonic humour. that s exactly right. and ben, like many of the bands i ve loved, uses lyrics. they re not comedians, and this plays into the conversation about my musical comedy. you know, the kinks, remember, they were writing dedicated follower of fashion
he s got that as well. and so he called me into a meeting and asked me if i d heard of roald dahl and the story of matilda, which of course i had, because dahl was huge in my childhood. and, yeah, itjust has completely changed my life. matilda just changed my life. # r-e-v-o-l-t-i-n- revolting times! # we ll s-i-n-g- # u-s-i-n-g # it is 2l84u.# # we r e volting # there are themes in roald dahl s matilda, that of revenge, anarchy, using your wits to overcome an adversary, a violent adversary as well. is that part of what appealed for you? i think so. i think i really like writing from children s point of view, a kid unpacking the fact that she realises she s different from other people. it was just such a joy to pour all my 37 year old knowledge into a six year old genius.
# r-e-v-o-l-t-i-n- revolting times! # we ll s-i-n-g # u-s-i-n-g # we ll be r-e-v-o-l-t-i-n-g # it is 2-l-8-4-u # we r e volting # there are themes in roald dahl s matilda, that of revenge, anarchy, using your wits to overcome an adversary, a violent adversary as well. is that part of what appealed for you? i think so. i think i really like writing from children s point of view, a kid unpacking the fact that she realises she s different from other people. it was just such a joy to pour all my 37 year old knowledge into a six year old genius. # and when i grow up i will be smart enough # to answer all the questions that you need to know # the answers to when