''Songs for Silverman'' is the second studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

Ben Folds Benjamin Scott Folds (born September 12, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After playing in several small independent bands throughout the late 80s and into the early 90s, Folds came to prominence as the f ...

, released in April 2005 by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

. The album reached No. 13 on the ''Billboard'' 200, making it Folds' highest-charting album until the release of '' Way to Normal'' in 2008. The album is named after Ben Goldman, Folds' former A&R representative at

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

. Folds explained, "I was always sending songs to him for the album, so I wanted to name it after him. But somebody (from Sony) found out and flipped out, so I changed it a bit and turned it in." Goldman's name also spawned the title of Folds' compilation album '' Songs for Goldfish''.

Singles

The first single, " Landed", reached No. 77 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 40 on the

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...

. A planned

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

issue was cancelled, though the single received a digital-only release. The single "Jesusland" reached No. 2 on the UK airplay chart in October 2005. It has also been playlisted by Xfm London and

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

(which lists it as "download only"). The track was slated for a UK single release in September 2005, but it never made it to store shelves. The video for the single features

Matt Lucas Matthew Richard Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English actor, comedian, writer and television host. He is best known for his work with David Walliams on the BBC sketch comedy series ''Little Britain (TV series), Little Britain'' (2003–2006) ...

as a

televangelist Televangelism (from ''televangelist'', a blend of ''television'' and ''evangelist'') and occasionally termed radio evangelism or teleministry, denotes the utilization of media platforms, notably radio and television, for the marketing of relig ...

interspersed with scenes of a journey through what may well be "Jesusland" itself. The track was featured in the 2008 documentary '' Religulous''. The album's next UK single, "Late", was written as a tribute to the recently deceased singer-songwriter

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, whe ...

Other songs

The song "Gracie" is written about Folds' daughter. He had previously written one about his son Louis on ''

Rockin' the Suburbs ''Rockin' the Suburbs'' is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Ben Folds released on September 11, 2001, after Folds disbanded his group Ben Folds Five. ''Rockin' the Suburbs'' was recorded in Adelaide, Australia, where Folds wa ...

'', called " Still Fighting It," and he often performs the two songs together during live shows.

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...

, who directed Folds' video for "

," contributes backing vocals to "Time".

Track listing

All songs written by

, except where noted. LP-only bonus track #

" Bitches Ain't Shit" ( Delmar Arnaud, Calvin Broadus, Jr., Ricardo Brown, Tracy Curry, Colin Wolfe, Andre Young) – 3:54 Japan-only bonus track #

"Side of the Road" – 2:58 DVD-only bonus track #

"Landed" (Strings Version) – 4:46

DVD listing

*The Making of ''Songs for Silverman'' *Live performances *Interviews *Behind-the-scenes footage The DualDisc additionally contains the entire album in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.

Personnel

The Band *Ben Folds – piano, vocals *Jared Reynolds – bass, vocals *Lindsay Jamieson – drums, vocals Additional musicians * Bucky Baxter – pedal steel (7, 11), 12-string guitar (7) *Frally Folds – backing vocals (7) *David Henry – cello (3, 5) *Ned Henry – violin (3) *John Mark Painter – double bass (5, 9), French horn (9) * Al Yankovic – backing vocals (10)

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Songs For Silverman 2005 albums Ben Folds albums Epic Records albums Albums produced by John Mark Painter Albums produced by Ben Folds