Has Been
Has Been (2004) is William Shatner's second musical album after 1968's The Transformed Man.
The album was produced and arranged by Ben Folds and most of the songs are co-written by Folds and Shatner, with Folds creating arrangements for Shatner's prose-poems, and features guest appearances from Joe Jackson (on a cover of Pulp's "Common People"), Folds and Aimee Mann (backup vocals on "That's Me Trying"), Lemon Jelly (on "Together"), Henry Rollins and Adrian Belew (on "I Can't Get Behind That"), and Brad Paisley (on "Real", which he wrote specifically for Shatner).
Henry Rollins also talks about the making of the song "I Can't Get Behind That" on his spoken-word album Talk Is Cheap Vol IV.
In 2007, a ballet called Common People, set to Has Been, was created by Margo Sappington (of Oh! Calcutta! fame) and performed by the Milwaukee Ballet. Shatner attended the première and had the event filmed. This footage became William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet, a feature film with a well received world première at the Nashville Film Festival on 17 April 2009. The documentary also features interviews with William Shatner, Ben Folds, and Henry Rollins.
Podcasts:
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by Gilbert O'Sullivan
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by Christopher Dallman
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by Heroin
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by William Shatner
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by Battery
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by Limp
Has Been
by: Gilbert O'SullivanI think a lot about the times when I was old and full on lines
Like man it's all so hip or was It groovy
Well anyway that's all so yuk
Like a book I didn't read last night
Concerning someone else's wife. whose husband's son
Had ran off with his mother
And you know. if 3 and 2 were multiplied they'd equal 6
Little children started building not with bricks
But with what they had been told was
Advantageous to an old and sort of in between
Has been
I must admit it frightens me to think we take so literally
The fact that you can get away with murder
There ought to be a law against
Common sense of course will not prevail
If people going into jail
Are doing so for fear of unemployment
And you know. what makes a parrot talk
Is really rather cute
What he does is listen close then follows suit
And within a minute. two at best. refers to you
As nothing less than some obscene
Has been
I've never had myself altered. what for
I mean if I did. I'm not sure
I'd be all that happy to see. another me
I wouldn't be at all surprised if I looked you
Straight in the eyes
And saw there were no stars. only your eyeballs
And you know, if two and two were joined
By two they'd equal 6
Little children started building not with bricks
And without even the prompting will bestow on you
The daunting little words that mean
Has been
A sort of In between