Don't Call Them Twinkies
Posted at 5:36 PM on September 22, 2010
by Bill DeVille
(77 Comments)
The Twins have clinched their division! They were the first team to do so this year. It didn't even take 163 games like the last couple of seasons! Maybe you've already heard that new Twins tune on the airwaves, featuring Craig Finn of the Hold Steady. Well, here is the story behind it. The Baseball Project is a side project led by Steve Wynn of Dream Syndicate fame, along with Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey of R.E.M., and Minnesota expatriate Linda Pitmon, who used to drum with the Twin Cites band Zuzu's Petals. The band theme is baseball, and naturally, Linda suggested they needed a Twins tune. So she enlisted baseball enthusiast and Twins fans Craig Finn of The Hold Steady to write the lyrics, which he did while on tour about a year ago. Steve Wynn wrote the music. Baseball Project then thought, who better to take the lead vocal than Mr. Finn!
Here is what Linda has to say: "We couldn't be happier that he complied with some of the most anthemic sports lyrics ever written....name-checking no less than 8 Minnesota cities, 2 neighborhoods, 2 streets, 9 Twins players and 2 coaches in just over 4 minutes - Craig's specialty!"
The Baseball Project's full-length album isn't out 'til next year, but The Current got a hold of the band's Twins anthem just in time for the team to head into the playoffs. We've been spinning it this week, but if you haven't heard it yet, here it is -- The Baseball Project and Craig Finn's "Don't Call Them Twinkies." Enjoy!
Click here to buy the song on iTunes.
Comments (77)
This Song rules in so many ways.
This song is great... could be our anthem if the Twins decide to play it at the stadium and on the TV broadcasts.
I'll be the first to admit that I've never been a big fan of Lifter Puller or the Hold Steady. Never understood the locals here in the Twin Cities obsession with either band or Craig Finn. However, this song rocks and I have now gained at least some appreciation for Mr. Finn's voice as well as his lyrical abilities. This song brings tears of joy to my eyes everytime I hear it. What a wonderful, well written historical song about our local nine. Not to mention it is a ROCKER!!!!! A nice departure from the usual "pennant race" tunes of the past. Nice work by the Baseball Project (BTW, love the jab at the REM boys regarding the Tomahawk Chop-nice touch!!)
This song is awesome. Just awesome. I'm a biased Twins fan, but it's the best rockin' baseball song I've ever heard.
I am from Boston and I love Minnesota and I love this Twins team. A team has to be pretty good to turn a iifelong Red Sox fan into a Twins fan. Your state is fantastic and the people are amazing. Go Twins! (and the song rocks, too)
Dear GB Leighton,
This is what you were SUPPOSED to do. And this rocks about a bajillion times more! :)
Much love,
The Citizens of Twins Territory
classic Craig Finn perfection. love it!
Thanks for streaming. Any word when it will be available for download?
Oh Craig Finn.
I wish they would have talked to YOU at the beginning of the year instead of G.B. Leighton. I have been saying it all year. And this song is the perfect example of why.
Where G.B.'s "song" makes me want to throw up all over myself, this song makes me smile and want to rock out.
We have SUCH good local talent around here. I have no idea why they would make us all look bad by getting G.B. to write a song instead of someone, you know, talented. Like Craig Finn.
Thanks! I will be rocking out to this song throughout the postseason! Go TWINS!
This should be the new anthem of the Twins.
BUENO!
Much better than GB Leighton's song. Wouldn't it be awesome (and suck for GBL) if everyone accepted this song instead of GBL's?
Good song. One clarification for Mr. Finn: there hasn't been any 3.2 beer sold at a Twins game since the early nineties.
I for one have accepted this as the new Twins song. You can tell Craig Finn has been a lifelong Twins fan. Unlike GB Leighton's song this has character.
As if I needed another reason to love THS and Craig Finn... Already knew he loved the Twins, but had always hoped he'd write a song for them (outside of their Take Me Out to the Ballgame version). Now the dream has come true! Nice call out to the Hrbek and Gant play.
I find this band annoying and I respectfully hate this team. This is a match forged in the depths of hell: Pseudo spoken word poetry paired with big dumb rock. Having pride is one thing; having taste is another matter. Enjoy, Twinkies!
This song gave me goosebumps. I love those Twink...I mean MINNESOTA TWINS!
Tom: I appreciate that you put more thought into your comment than just "This sux!!1!" but seriously ... why comment at all? Is it exhausting to have to comment on everything on the internet that you don't like? Why not just let us enjoy this and go find something that you DO like? Wouldn't you be happier?
Also, Helm ... I thought the Dome always had 3.2 beer. I turned 21 in 2002, and definitely remember suffering through those.
Anyone else?
/ believes Craig Finn has never been wrong about anything ... ever
I can't get enough of this song. And yes, way better than the GBL tune. I'm trying to get this song out there for the people who don't listen to the current. Posting this link to my facebook has made it possible for others to listen as well. Hopefully if we can get enough people to listen, it can become the new Twins song.
Aaron, in the future just ignore the likes of Tom. He's doing it for the attention and the fact that you commented on his comment just made his day (my response isn't helping either I guess). Ignore the troll and they will go away.
OK - This is truly a great song - so much Minnesota Info. I have been a Twins fan since they first came to Minnesota and played at the Met; they were then ex-Washington Senators. My Dad had season tickets, and he taught me how to keep score, and I LOVED Frosty's! I was at the World Series Game in 1987, when Hrbek hit the oh-so-sweet Grand Slam. I've been to the new Target Field, and I do love it. But - there is no song like the "We're Gonna Win, Twins! We're gonna Score!" As good as this new song is, you can't sing it on your front steps before a big game. "We're Gonna Win, Twins!"; I can. My South Dakota neighbors expect it-I can't let them down.
Best Sports Song Ever! So many memories, so many people i haven't thought of in a long time... Thanks to Tom Kelly indeed!
As long as I don't have to hear GB Leighton's awful song anymore I'll be happy
Congrats on getting a great song for your team, who certainly deserve it. I keep hoping The Baseball Project will do a song for our overachieving Padres. So far, the closest we've got is the very first song in the Broadside Ballads project, where the first line that mentions a team (all of which were those projected to do poorly in '10) is: "The Padres could be surprising...".
Go Twink...er...TWINS!
What gives?
You want to tell me why Priam, Minnesota was not mentioned in this song?
How disappointing. I just threw my Twins hat in the circular file.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Craig Finn/Hold Steady MadLibs school of Songwriting!
“We drove our [name of car] down to [Twin Cities landmark] where we saw [70s b-list celebrity]. He told us we can be [emotion] only if we [verb] our way [over/under/across] the [noun] to [name of 1st-tier Minneapolis suburb]. We’re just [verb ending in –ing] our way to [Midwestern City], man!”
as a white sox fan, my love of craig finn outweighs my hatred of the twins. so, i love this.
for the haters -- the song could be crap but the line "I prayed more in the dome than I ever did at church" would make up for it. admit it.
I can't stop playing this pure awesomeness !
I hate all things Minnesota. The sports teams, the people, the pungent smell that constant floats across the Mississippi River when the wind blows from the West. However, THS and Craig Finn make this hemorrhoid of America, and the buttholes that live there, somehow interesting and appealing. Let's face it, the Twins are what is right about a sport in which so much is wrong. Thanks again Craig.
Simply amazing. Bring it home in '10!
I think that Greg Finn is the last person that I want to be the voice of anything other than the depths of my hell. I give this guy so many chances to wow me, but it is just plain poison to all of my senses. I think this is one more TERRIBLE song that has been written about the Twins. Love that team hate the last 3 that I have heard....GBL and the last two by the Hold Steady/Greg Finn.
Go Twins! perhaps we can get a talented person to write a song about them some day....waiting for you guys Tapes n Tape.
As a transplanted Twins fan living in New Yorkt his is awesome. My Yankee fan friends better watch out. Dont forget to get your Homer Hanky and support the team.
WIN TWINS!!!!
Sure... Poor people... Struggling fathers crippled by a bias system... Single mothers... People we know dying in war... Education at an all time low... and we have time to build a new F#%^ING stadium... not to mention time to right a song about a bunch of overpaid "Heros." Great priorities people. I know I'm being a Debbie Downer, but I can't stand to hear any more crap about sports. Funny that sports is so supported in High Schools.. that Music and the Arts get cut from the budget. Just another reason our country is going in such a great direction. GO TWINS. Just go.
Thank God there's finally a song that agrees with Steve Lombardozzi when he stated during his post-game interview after the '87 series that the term "twinkies" is outlawed when referring to the MN-TWINS! Good song, great season - this is our year! GO TWINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love the song! Will definitely be playing this in the future, thanks.
Korb-lame more like. S'go Twins!
Korby, it's a song. Lighten up. You'd do a lot better making your point about "heroes" (with two e's) at orchestra hall or your favorite indie coffie shop. (And I like the MN Orchestra).
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5849265
Great song, GB Leighton does certainly represent suburban metro, which is most of the state really.
The twins represent amazing. What they have accomplished this year and others is amazing. Wint Twins all the way. And if a Minnesotan even someone who has spent meaningful time in Minneapolis can't appreciate Craig Finn and the Hold Steady even a little I feel for you. The sun will come up tomorrow and life is good, really it is.
Win Twins!
SO much better than the GBL song... I cringe every commercial break during games fearing they will play that when the break is over..
Someone should, seriously, start a petition to replace the GBL song with this one. This song does the majority of the "hometown crowd proud" as Finn put it..
GO TWINS!!!
Korby effectively demonstrated her point about not directing more resources toward our educational system -- several examples of egregious misspellings, punctuation gaffs and misuse of capitalization in one paragraph.
Oh, really like Greg Flynn's song too. Go Twins!
Love it! Sorry GBL...
Blast this one from the Target Field speakers, Mr. Kevin Lindaman Dutcher!
Like the song!! Finally a song about Minnesota sports that you can like! Anyone remember Princes HORRID song for the Vikings? Yuk!!! Can't say I understand why anyone would comment negatively in here? If you don't like the Twins or the song, why even post or listen in the first place? This is Twins Territory. We have enough behind them that we don't even need you haters anyway. GO TWINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't like the sound, but the lyrics are amazing. My favorite is "we don't buy our titles". Nice swift kick to bandwagon Yankees fans all over the country. The Twins have been doing it right for a decade and still only get 30 seconds a day on Sportscenter.
Good team song! Let Go Twins! Thank God Prince hasn't come up with another death March like he did for the Vikes last year!
Great song for a great team. I relived all my cherished Twins memories in four minutes. Thanks for sharing this. Win Twins!
I don't need to add another comment saying how awesome this is. What I find hilarious is that people want to name drop and don't know that his name is CRAIG FINN.
Do your homework.
Damn, I'm a Rays fan, so we may be seeing the Twins come October- and if theme songs determined ballgames I'd say the Twins would take the series in four. Great work by Mr. Finn and company!
Wow,
Thank you for creating this song so I don't have to pretend to get jacked when I hear:
(Duh-Duh Duh-Duh) "ARE YOU REAADAYY?!" (Duh-Duh Duh-Duh) "....HE'S READY"
It's so great to sing-along with!
Terrible song. Twins BASEBALL is good but this song makes me want to burn down the whole state and move to nd.
Sheeeeeit, if only the last two hold steady albums sounded this good
Hey, Aaron. They switched to the hard stuff for the dome's first final four. I think around 1992.
This is the most ridiculous song I've EVER heard in my entire life!!!! Were they trying to be serious or is this just a joke???
Korby,
You are kind of a Deby Downer. Target Field has brought joy to over 3Million people this summer, in many ways revitalized downtown, and last time I checked the stadium was payed by taxes from the very same community (Hennepin County) that is reaping the increased sales tax dollars stadium is generating.
I've never watched a baseball game in my life...its not played very much over here in England...but If I did, it would have to be the Twins so I could rock out to that song!
I was 10 in '87, and after game 6 we went outside the Dome to get autographs. Hrbek told all the other kids to get in line behind me. Best childhood memory ever! Craig gets it. Great song for a great team!
Can we please, please, please hear this at Target Field and Twins broadcasts from now through October and into next year? "We're Gonna Win Twins'" is still a sentimental favorite but this new song leaves the lame G.B. Leighton attempt in the dust. Thank you for giving us a new anthem for a new team in a new era!
I love that line about kirby. Invokes that photo we all know.
this song is so gay I think I contracted aids of the inner ear canal just by listening to it. I have to hand it to Craig Finn, when it comes to being irritating and annoying he's a master. he could teach things to tropical skin diseases. but what can you expect? he's from Edina
this is the best example of english prose (or any lyrical verse for that matter) in the history of mankind
go twins!
this song will be the perfect addition for the "tribute to terrible lyrics" mix I am making.
There can be no doubt. Ron Gant WAS obviously out. Great song!
This song is AWESOME! I'm gonna try to make it popular in Seoul, where they have the LG Twins (who sadly nobody likes except me). haha
this is great. love the baseball project and THS. this should be the anthem to replace that horrible GB song. But, i will still call them twinkies.
Where can I get this song? Love it and can't find it at Amazon or Itunes. Must have for October! Go Twins.
What about Gary Gaetti?!
I personally am a tremendous yankees fan but have to admit this song is awesome! craig finn is really the man
the code doesn't work - the image appears on my website but the audio doesn't work - it skips straight to the end when I click the arrow but there's no audio at all. help!
I like the song though.
Yeah, this is much better, Sorry GB Leighton, but I cringe everytime your song is on, I kind of feel like someone is playing Nickelback and thinking theyre cool because of it..eeeew just eeww..GO TWINS!!..
This is the worst thing I have ever heard. I am embarrassed for anyone who has a Current bumper sticker on their car right now...way to promote more garbage music from the biggest tool alive.
With a name like "barb abney" you're probably too old to know the sound of good music.
I am going to see The Hold Steady in Cincinnati on Saturday. Maybe I can convince Craig Finn to adopt The Reds so he can write a song like that for us. Congrats on winning your division and good luck in the playoffs, hopefully we will see you later in Oct.
From MN, now in DC. Was a fan since going to games at the Met. Probably spent more time as a kid running around under the bleachers than watching the game back then. Good lyrics all around, BUT probably would have liked something better then "Please don't call them Twinkies" as the hook. Or maybe it's just the instrumentals around that phrase that doesn't appeal to me. Can't wait until Oct! (IF they loose in the first round - they'll be TWINKIES!)
Going to see The Hold Steady tonight in Indianapolis...think I'll call this one out as a request. Go Twins...Go Thome!
I love the Twins, the Hold Steady...not so much. In my opinion the song is pretty lame, but it's catchy and I can hear the crowd now, "Please don't call them Twinkies!" We'll never get away from this one so hopefully there is a special circle in hell for Mr. Finn.
GREAT song. MUST...PUT...ON...ALL..,RADIO...STATIONS...
Craig Finn - U R D MAN.
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