Q&A: Craig Finn

Growing up in Minneapolis, you were obsessed with the Replacements. Did you dress like them?
When you're in eighth grade, you can't look as cool as Tommy Stinson, you know? With the creepers and the flannel and the jeans. They had that perfectly disheveled look. Of course we couldn't pull it together, but that's what we wanted to be.

You're also a huge fan of the Minnesota Twins. If you were a Twin, what song would be blasting during your stroll to home plate?
I wouldn't want to come out to a Metallica song or something hard — I'll leave that to David Ortiz. I'd be more of a singles hitter, so I'd have to have something with a nice groove. Maybe "Jailbreak," by Thin Lizzy.

Were there a lot of urban legends floating around about Bob Dylan in Minnesota?
Yeah. My friend from eighth grade claims that he went to the same summer camp as Dylan, because in one of the cabins, someone carved the name Bobby Zimmerman. When you deal with Dylan, there's a lot of legend, very much by his own design. When people meet celebrities they say, "Oh, he's just a normal guy." Dylan's not a normal guy. He's superhuman.

At a Bruce Springsteen tribute last year, you sang "Rosalita" with him. How did that happen?
It was just a charity night, and no one thought he'd be there. But at soundcheck, we learned he was gonna play. So at the end of the night, he comes out and invites all the artists onstage and says, "Anyone know the words to 'Rosalita'?" I think Damon Gough, of Badly Drawn Boy, took a verse, Jesse Malin took a verse, and I got to sing the "papa says he knows" line — that's the part you want! When we walked offstage, Bruce put his arm around me and said, "Thanks for holdin' it down there, brother."

Did you chat with him?
Not until months later, when I saw him play in St. Paul. I talked to him backstage, and when I left he said, "Any requests?" And I said "Thunder Road." He said, "All right, what's your girl's name?" I said, "Angie." Later, during the show, he said, "By special request, this one's for Angie!" There are a lot of opportunities in rock & roll for your heroes to disappoint you, but I have a hard time believing Bruce has ever disappointed anyone.

[From Issue 1058 — August 7, 2008]

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