Uncle Walter-
Theory 1:The character is a woman who used to lock Ben in the cellar, but Ben obviously used a different, male name in the song.
Theory 2:The song is all true and Uncle Walter is a friend of the (Folds) family.
Theory 3:The character is a man who molested Ben after a show.

Eddie Walker-
There is a real Eddie Walker who is a friend of Ben and Chuck Folds and he plays the drums in Chuck's band Bus Stop. The song isn't about him though; Ben just used the name.

Julianne-
Theory 1:Apparently when introducing the song once Ben said something along the lines of "This song's a about a girl I knew. I guess I kind of miss her, but I hope she never hears this song!!!"
Theory 2:Julianne, from Detroit, was a girl who worked in an Ice Cream Parlor.

Alice Childress-
Alice Childress was a woman who threw a bucket of dirty mop water over Anna Goodman (who wrote "Alice Childress" with Ben) when Anna used to work in a mental hospital. The song may or may not be about her.

Summer B.-
Summer Burkes is a real person whose name is in the 'thankyou' section in both the self titled album and 'Whatever and Ever Amen' albums. But again, who know if the song is actually about her?

Steven
Steven Stuart Short was a real person who came to stay with them and every night he'd get them to throw a party because he was leaving the next day, but he never did (not for a while anyway)!

Dr. Pyser-
Theory 1:'Dr. Pyser' was an old TV show.
Theory 2:When the band was touring in Amsterdam, some lout called them 'pysers' which is Dutch for 'penis'! The rest of the name originated from that.

Jackson Cannery-
Apparently a conglomeration of two different things.

Ross and Frank-
("There go Ross and Frank again", from 'Where's Summer B?')
Apparently Ross and Frank owned a club and they ripped Ben off in some way, so when he wrote the song he put them in as gay.

Lots of the landmarks in songs are real too; there are Rosemary & Cameron streets (Kate) in Chapel Hill, and there was a Hardback Cafe that closed down (because the Hardrock Cafe threatened to take them to court).

One of Robert's dreams is of becoming a disco diva! You can hear a really funny .wav file of him having a go at it here!

Famous BF5 fans..

• Drew Carey

• Tim Fisher (politician and former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia)

• The kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun who plays 'Tommy'.

• Paul Dempsey and Clint Hyndman from Aussie band Something for Kate (bassist Stephanie Ashworth reckons they're pretty good too)

• Kelis

And some famous people who are definately not fans:

• Jonathan Davis from Korn... "Fucking Ben Folds Five sucks!"

There were two pressings of Whatever and ever Amen. The first had talking in between the tracks and a hidden 'track' at the end. Those sold really well so a whole heap more were printed, but with a couple of differences: the cover colours were slightly brighter and the talking and hidden track had vanished. So for those of you who have the second pressing of the cd, I've been really kind and recorded the talking and hidden 'track' in .wav format so you can hear them. Click here to download (Caution: coarse language!). It may take a while to download as the file is about 30 seconds long. Just in case your computer is so new and fancy it can't hear .wav files or you can't be bothered downloading the file, here's a transcript. The sounds that aren't talking are in brackets and they're not in the .wav file. Sometimes I've put in two words where I'm not sure which one it is, and even though I don't have a clue who is saying what, I've put my guesses down. In case you're incredibly thick, B is for Ben, D is for Darren and R is for Robert. C and L are explained after. Warning: I have typed it word for word as well as I can and I haven't deleted any expletives, so don't read it if you think you'll get offended!

One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces
D or B:"I like that one."
Fair
B:"That's good. I like that one too, d'ya wanna just take/tape that one?"
(Squeak - maybe a door opening)
Brick
R:"Hope we got that on tape, cause it was a really..."
D:"Was someone sayin' something?"
R:"It was a really..."
B:"I dunno, I think I hear some kind of noise."
R:"I was thinking..."
B:"Cut/Get that shit."
R:"I was thinkin' about, y'know, respecting your work, even if..."
D:"Shut the fuck up!"
B:"1, 2, 3, 4..."
Song for the DUMPED
Selfless, Cold and Composed
B:"Cool."
Kate
(Ben strumming the piano strings)
Smoke
(Crickets chirping)
Cigarette
(Those crickets again)
Steven's last night in town
Battle of Who Could Care Less
Missing the War
Evaporated
C:(Laughter, cheering and clapping)
L:"Look man. I got your hidden track right here, pal. Right here, listen. Ben Folds is a fucking asshole!"
C:(Louder laughter, cheering and clapping)

There's a bit of uncertainty about the hidden track. Most people agree that it was recorded at a show, but opinions on which show it was differ. Apparently during the show one of the roadies, called Leo (that's who L stands for) came on stage and made that little speech. The crowd (that's C) thought he was pretty funny.

Thanks to these people for giving me information:

• Sharon

• The person who told me the roadie was called Leo (sorry, I lost your name- re send it if ya want!)

• Julie 'anti-gavin' [Check out Julie's Aussie BF5 Site!]

I'll keep adding more facts as I get them... if you've got any you want to share, e-mail me. I'll add your name/link at the bottom of the page.

Now try the quiz!