Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFund.org and is distributed by NPR.

It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn.

Now for the song that changed my life. It's a segment we do where we get musicians

to talk about the music that made them who they are. This week Craig Finn. He's the frontman of the

Hold Steady.

He spent the 90s in Lifterpolar, who played angular post punk in Iraq. But when he turned to his

current band, the Hold Steady, he turned squarely into rock. Rock, rock. The band is unapologetically heavy

and themic, although the themes tend to be richer than the 70s bands that might have inspired them.

Finn isn't an opera singer, he's more of a growler, but the lyrics are smart and moving

and he is never less than profoundly passionate in delivering them. It's the kind of music that

can remind a middle-aged guy how deeply he felt things when he was 17. Earlier this year,

the Hold Steady released their ninth studio album, it's called The Price of Progress.

Here's a bit from the song off that record, Sideway Skull.

We're very excited to hear that the Hold Steady had a new record, even more excited to have

Greg Finn back on our show to talk about the song that changed his life. His pick,

a not-so-heavy one, slips sliding away by the great Paul Simon. Let's get into it.

Hey, my name is Craig Finn and this is the song that changed my life.

So the first time I heard Slipside in a way, I'm pretty sure it was not the original,

it was a bit of a cover, it was on the playground. I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota,

the suburbs of Minneapolis and it's cold and icy a lot. So the playground and the big field

next to it were at times absolutely covered in ice and mostly that was fun but you generally

spend a lot of time slipping and sliding and I remember kids on the playground sliding around on

...