Genre Alternative rock Writer(s) Benjamin Scott Folds | Length 3:49 | |
Released August 8, 1995 (album)
1996 (single) Recorded Wave Castle, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
February 1995 Label Passenger/Caroline
Intercord (EU single)
Virgin (Australia single) | ||
"Uncle Walter" is a song from Ben Folds Five's 1995 self-titled debut album. It was written by Ben Folds. The song is about a young man left alone with the opinionated, possibly crazy, relative of his significant other.
Contents
History
Uncle Walter is that relative who has soured with age. Opinionated when he was younger; vitriolic as he got older; now swathed in an air of righteousness and contempt without self-awareness or regard to repercussion, drowned in beer. The song of "Uncle Walter" recounts an afternoon or evening where a young man is left by his girlfriend or wife for an extended period of time to listen to the unrestrained rants of the eponymous relative on life and the ways of the world. The point of view of the song is from the young man dressing down his significant other after her return.
Folds, Sledge, and Jessee were known to have fun during interviews and often give false, misleading or intentionally humorous answers to questions. True or not, Folds has said that Uncle Walter
Charles Leahy, first cousin of songwriter (and Folds' former wife) Anna Goodman, corroborates this in a June 2006 interview:
Additional versions
This song appears on the Ben Folds Five Live album which was released on June 4, 2013. It was recorded at the Kool Haus, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 10/5/12.
U.S. promotional CD single
Released in 1996 to radio programmers in the United States to promote the song and the album Ben Folds Five. Features the album cut of the song.
- Uncle Walter – 3:49
European commercial CD single
Released in 1996 in Europe by Intercord Records for Passenger/Caroline. Features the album cut of the song. The other tracks were recorded live on August 12, 1995, at Ziggy's in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, by John Alagia and Doug Derryberry. The tracks were mixed at Rutabaga Studios in May 1996. "Tom & Mary" also appears on the Japanese release of Ben Folds Five.
- Uncle Walter – 3:49
- Tom & Mary (Live) – 2:51
- Emaline (Live) – 3:40
Australian commercial CD single
Released in 1996 in Australia by Virgin Records for Passenger/Caroline. Features the album cut of the song. The other tracks were recorded live on August 12, 1995, at Ziggy's in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, by John Alagia and Doug Derryberry. The tracks were mixed at Rutabaga Studios in May 1996. "Tom & Mary" also appears on the Japanese release of Ben Folds Five.
- Uncle Walter – 3:49
- Tom & Mary (Live) – 2:51
- Emaline (Live) – 3:40
Compilations and soundtracks
The song appears on the 1996 Caroline Records compilation album How Low Can A Punk Get.