If you were a teenager in the late 1990s or early 2000s, there’s a good chance you spent at least some time trying to explain blink-182 lyrics to your confused parents. Maybe you were blasting Enema of the State or Dude Ranch, but if you were a real "deep cut" fan, you eventually stumbled upon a track that felt like a fever dream.
I’m talking about ben wah balls.
Yeah. That’s a real song. It’s track six on their 1995 debut studio album, Cheshire Cat. For many fans, it was the first time they ever heard the term, usually followed by a frantic, secretive Google search on the family’s dial-up computer.
Honestly, the song is peak early Blink. It’s juvenile, it’s fast, and the story it tells is objectively insane. But beyond the potty humor, the song represents a specific era of Southern California skate punk that basically doesn't exist anymore.
What Really Happens in the Song Ben Wah Balls?
The track opens with a chaotic, stumbling intro where the band is clearly just messing around in the studio. You hear a voice—reportedly Matt Houts—proclaiming, "Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Blink!"
Then, the music kicks in. It’s that classic, high-energy Scott Raynor drum beat paired with Tom DeLonge’s signature scratchy guitar tone. Mark Hoppus takes the lead on vocals, spinning a yarn about a "little old guy" who falls in love with a "special girl."
Standard love song stuff, right? Not even close.
As the lyrics progress, things get weird. The girl starts feeling the guy's beard and gets a strange sense of deja vu. She’s reminded of her father. The climax of the song—if you can call it that—happens when the guy farts, sings a specific song, and his pants fall down.
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The girl’s realization is the "hook" of the song:
"Now I know that you’re my dad because you use ben wah balls."
It’s a classic Blink-182 subversion. They take a narrative that seems like a sweet (if slightly odd) romance and turn it into a joke about incest and obscure adult novelties. It’s gross, it’s shocking, and at 14 years old, it was the funniest thing anyone had ever heard.
Wait, What Actually Are Ben Wah Balls?
If you're coming at this from the music side, you might be wondering what the heck Mark was even singing about.
Ben Wa balls (often spelled "Ben Wah" in the Blink universe) are small, weighted spheres designed to be inserted into the vagina. They’ve been around for centuries, with roots often traced back to East Asia, though their history is a bit murky and shrouded in folklore.
They serve two main purposes:
- Pelvic Floor Health: By holding the balls inside, the muscles (the pubococcygeus or PC muscles) have to contract. It’s basically a weightlifting session for the pelvic floor, similar to Kegel exercises.
- Sensual Stimulation: Many versions contain smaller balls inside that chime or vibrate when the wearer moves, providing subtle internal stimulation.
In the context of a 1995 punk song, the band used them as a "shock value" prop. They were just obscure enough that most kids didn't know what they were, but "dirty" enough to give the song that dangerous, rebellious edge.
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Why This Track Is a Pop-Punk Time Capsule
It’s easy to dismiss ben wah balls as just another "joke song," like Depends or Family Next Door. But musically, it’s actually kind of interesting.
If you listen closely to the bridge—right around the 0:50 mark—there’s an intricate little guitar riff that Tom DeLonge plays. It’s surprisingly technical for a guy who, at the time, was mostly known for power chords. Fans on Reddit and old-school message boards often point to this track as proof that the band actually had chops even before they became global superstars.
There’s also a section that feels almost like 90s ska-punk. It has that bouncy, upstroke feel that was dominating the San Diego scene at the time. It’s a reminder that before they were the "All The Small Things" guys, Blink was a local band playing VFW halls and small clubs alongside bands like Unwritten Law and The Vandals.
The Mystery of the Song Credits
The song is officially credited to the original trio: Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and Scott Raynor. While Mark sings the lead, the humor has the fingerprints of all three members.
In various interviews over the years, the band has looked back at the Cheshire Cat era with a mix of nostalgia and mild embarrassment. They were kids. They were recording in a budget studio (Westbeach Recorders in Hollywood) and trying to finish the entire album in just a few days.
When you’re under that kind of pressure and you have a bunch of "joke" songs in your back pocket, you just throw them at the wall to see what sticks. ben wah balls stuck.
Did They Ever Play It Live?
Yes, but not for a very long time.
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There are bootleg recordings of the band performing the song in the mid-90s, particularly around 1996 and 1997. It was a staple of their early, chaotic sets where they spent more time making fun of each other than actually playing music.
However, once Travis Barker joined the band and they moved toward the more "polished" sound of Enema of the State, the Cheshire Cat joke tracks mostly fell off the setlist. You might hear M+M's or Carousel at a modern Blink show, but the odds of hearing Mark belt out a song about his "dad's balls" in 2026 are pretty much zero.
The band has "grown up" in their own weird way. While they still make dick jokes on stage, their newer material—especially the One More Time... era—deals with much heavier themes like cancer, near-death experiences, and the breakdown of their friendships.
The Legacy of the Joke Song
Blink-182 essentially created the blueprint for the "hidden" or "joke" track in pop-punk. Without ben wah balls, we might not have had the "secret" songs that populated albums by New Found Glory or Sum 41.
It taught a generation of fans that music didn't always have to be serious. You could be a "real" band with a record deal and still write a song that sounded like it was composed in the back of a math class.
Key Takeaways for Fans and Collectors
If you're looking to dive deeper into this specific piece of Blink history, here’s the "pro" move:
- Check the Vinyl: The original Cheshire Cat pressings are highly sought after. Look for the Cargo Records versions if you want the "authentic" 90s sound.
- Listen to Buddha: Some early versions of these songs appeared on the Buddha demo tape/album. The production is even rawer, and the energy is even more frantic.
- Context is Everything: To understand why this song worked, you have to look at the 1995 music landscape. Grunge was dying, and everything was very "serious" and "moody." Blink was the antidote to that.
The best way to experience ben wah balls today isn't as a masterpiece of songwriting, but as a snapshot of three friends from San Diego who had no idea they were about to change the world. They were just trying to make each other laugh.
Next Steps for You:
If you want to explore more of this era, go back and listen to the full Cheshire Cat album from start to finish. Pay attention to the transition between the melodic tracks like Romeo and Rebecca and the joke tracks like Depends. It gives you a much better sense of the band's dual identity—the "serious" songwriters and the class clowns—that would eventually make them the biggest band in the world.