Musician Ben Folds Tells The Story Of Himself
Ben Folds’ new memoir, “A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons,” is a reflection on being wise in the art of songwriting — but unwise in almost everything else.
“I had so immersed myself in creativity in my art that I was letting things go in my private life as myself,” he tells Here & Now’s Robin Young. “I started to realize that I was very wise when it came to writing a song. And I was a damn idiot when it came to living.”
His tour kicks off this week.
- Scroll down to read an excerpt from “A Dream About Lightning Bugs”
Interview Highlights
On when he was 3 years old, dreaming of collecting fireflies in a jar and gifting the jars to other kids
“I think the metaphor for it, for me, [was] to see something that the other kids didn’t see and then to get to share it with them was what made me cool in my dream. People see something that’s glowing and that was what made me valuable.”
On his turbulent childhood
“I felt like I wanted to make some kind of statement about creativity, maybe teach by example of what I know about one creative person, which would be me and how I got there. I felt like it wasn’t the complete story unless you could see what was in motion that created
