Five Favorites Jeremy Messersmith

Each week, we call on notable locals to spill their guts and let us in on five of their favorite things. This week, we’ve asked Jeremy Messersmith to take the Five Faves questionnaire. Messersmith will take part in this Saturday’s Works For Words, held at the Fitzgerald Theatre. The event, presented by 89.3 The Current, takes a litster look at songs, honing in on some of the best, most lyrically driven songs of our day—as well as highlighting some lyrics that are better when misunderstood. Messersmith will be joined by radio’s Jill Riley, as well as Dessa, Chris Koza, Lucy Michelle, and Brian Tighe.

1. Your last record is called The Reluctant Graveyard. What’s your favorite local cemetery?
I have to go with the Pioneers And Soldiers Cemetery on Lake and Cedar in Minneapolis. They’ve got War Of 1812 vets and freed slaves buried there—a lot of early Minnesota history. I even named a song from The Reluctant Graveyard after a boy buried there [“Toussaint Grey”].

2. What is your favorite commonly misunderstood or misheard lyric?
My favorite is probably “Hold me closer, Tony Danza” from Elton John’s Tiny Dancer. Also, “Might as well face it, you’re a dick with a glove” is pretty great too. I think, in both these cases, the song is improved dramatically.

Also, there are some bands [that] seem to constantly have misheard lyrics: The Bee Gees, U2. Also, Queen: “Scallaboosh, scallaboosh, will you do the banned tango? / The algebra has a devil for a sidekick eeeeeeeeee... .”

3. What is your favorite noise found in nature?
Silence.

Nah, that’s too John Cage. I’m going to go with one from my childhood—the wind over desert fields of winter wheat.

4. What is your favorite guilty pleasure that you can only find locally? 
I don’t have much in the way of vices or guilty pleasures, but a big one is Chicago Mix popcorn from Candyland in St. Paul. It’s a blend of caramel, butter, and cheese popcorn, and perfect balance of salty, sweet, and savory. I brought a 2-pound bag of it to a party recently, and by the end of the night everyone made me swear to never bring Chicago Mix again—they couldn’t stop eating it.

I have a gym membership, mainly so I can binge on bags of that stuff.

5. What is your favorite animal? (And why? This one’s hard.)
Flying squirrels. They’re squirrels. They fly. Seriously, how cool is that?

I saw a bunch gliding around at night in a Missouri forest 10 years ago, and they’ve been my favorite animals ever since.