Everyday She Wears the Same Thing

Given the number of songs named after real people out there, I think everyone should have a moment where they get to sing, or at least play, that song to the person named in the song.  It’s a rare moment when some incidental piece of fact in your life and the songwriters’ overlap, and even a small piece of shared experience – a girl named Kate – is enough to satisfy the cathartic impulse to devote a song to someone.

Well, devote is perhaps not the right word.  From the sounds of it, the heroine of Ben Folds’ song doesn’t shower, hangs around animals, and possesses positive characteristics listed as “and she speaks/and she breathes.”  Given Ben Folds’ knack for sarcasm, it’s safe to assume that “Kate” is a send-up of devotional, insert-girl’s-name-here songs.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be mean, but the way that Ben lazily shouts Kate’s name over and over frankly isn’t romantic or appealing.

But it was perfect.  I knew a particular Kate at school who had frequently shared a cheerleader-like disdain for me which became mutual whenever she would take the last spot in the student parking lot in the morning.  (She also had a bigger car than me.)  One weekend, a friend and I were driving around town listening to Whatever and Ever Amen.  As luck would have it, I spotted her car in traffic, approaching a red light.  There was an opening in the lane next to her.  I quickly told my friend to skip to track 6 and turn it up, hoping the chorus would kick in on time.

I rolled the windows down, pulled the car right up next to hers, smiling, and looked over…at Kate’s mom.

Well, needless to say, her name wasn’t Kate.