Review: How ‘Annie Waits’ patiently became Ben Folds’ best work

On September 11, 2001, the world was forever changed when Ben Folds released his debut solo album, “Rockin’ the Suburbs.”

The album left an immeasurable impact on those who listened to it and continues to do so 23 years later. For me, the impact was immediate, as I discovered my favorite song in its opening track.

“Annie Waits” is a brilliant showcase of Folds’ songwriting chops, both in terms of storytelling and composition.

The lyrics play with perspective really well. Initially told in third person, we meet the eponymous Annie, a young woman looking for “the one.” Unfortunately, she constantly finds herself being stood up by guys and waiting fruitlessly for them to show up. She makes excuses for her dates, avoiding putting them at fault. She even ponders if it would feel worse if her date got injured or simply forgot about her. 

As the ghostings pile up, Annie resigns herself to a life of loneliness and imagines herself as an old lady feeding birds and playing bingo. She dreams about this in her sleep, indicating either that this prospective loneliness haunts her at night or she’s been waiting for her date for so long that she’s fallen asleep on the sidewalk. 

But the song’s climax reveals the narrative has been from a first-person perspective the whole time, as Annie’s friend pines for her while she continues to obliviously struggle. The lyric where this is revealed particularly stands out: “Annie, I could be/If we’re both still lonely when we’re old.” 

This is reminiscent of marriage pacts between friends, but also could mean that Annie’s friend hopes she doesn’t find someone else. It also suggests he plans to keep his secret affection close to the chest for the time being. Essentially, the song ends leaving both of its main characters unhappy.

The wistful tone of the lyrics is juxtaposed with a bombastic musical composition. Folds opens with a simple yet memorable piano melody accompanied by minimal percussion, before giving way to a much fuller instrumentation. Forceful drums and playful bass complement each other throughout, along with gleaming guitar, swelling strings and even handclaps, each at different points in the song.

Folds’ vocals encapsulate a distant feeling of longing, while still maintaining an upbeat energy. The production by Folds and Ben Grosse is lush and perfectly balances each component in the mix.

According to Folds, the demo for “Annie Waits” was written and recorded on an omnichord, which is an electronic version of an autoharp. He wrote the parent album when he was in Australia in 2000. At the time, he was suffering from chronic pain.

For lyrical inspiration, Folds said he turned to a scene in a movie, which he did not name, depicting old people playing bingo, as well as the Joni Mitchell song “Car on a Hill.”

While he said at a 2014 concert at the Kauffman Center that his pain was unrelated to the song’s message, it’s easy for me to connect those dots. The song is about a different kind of chronic pain. But unlike Folds, who recovered after having an operation, you leave the song unsure if Annie or her friend will ever recover themselves from their situation.

In a 2001 Phoenix New Times article, Celeste Moure connects “Rockin’ the Suburbs” to a quote Folds made two years prior: “the next record he’d write would be the ‘Thriller’ of modern rock, with eight hit songs on it.” I agree with Moure that he may have been onto something, which makes it all the more nonsensical that “Annie Waits” was never positioned as a single when it’s primed for such a push.

Perhaps it was due to the circumstances that surrounded the album. The lead single for “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” its satirical title track, charted around late August, shortly before the September 11 attacks. The only other single was “Still Fighting It,” released the next April. It was a ballad about the difficulty of growing up addressed to Folds’ son Louis, a prescient choice for a post-9/11 single.

While “Annie Waits” may have missed its window for radio success, that hasn’t stopped it from becoming a fan favorite, earning it the second spot on Folds’ greatest hits album behind his biggest hit “Brick.” It isn’t hard to see why.

I first heard this song during my first semester at Cal State Fullerton in fall 2022. I felt my whole body pulsate; I was moved, but it also made me want to move. It’s able to accompany a diverse range of emotions, making it timeless in my heart and mind.

“Annie Waits” flawlessly satisfies all the reasons I listen to music. Its composition demonstrates the effortless way Folds wields a piano like a guitar, its lyrics tell an all-too-relatable story on two fronts and it all comes together to create a serene listening experience.

It is my favorite song of all time.