Springsteen Rages on "The Streets of Minneapolis"

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

American rock legend Bruce Springsteen has once again, through his music, taken dead aim at the heart of the Trump administration's war on immigrants and basic American values.  Last Saturday, shortly after the ICE murder of Alex Pretti, an emergency room RN at a VA hospital in Minneapolis, Springsteen took pen in hand and poured his rage about what was happening in Minneapolis into an anthem entitled "The Streets of Minneapolis."

IN THE SONG, "The Boss" honors victims Alex Pretti and Renee Good by name and he also singles out three of the major bad guys:  Donald Trump, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and presidential adviser Stephen Miller.  The song, written last Saturday, was recorded by Springsteen, released to the public yesterday (Wednesday), and is being covered across the internet this morning.  National Public Radio (NPR) is also airing a piece about it today.  One of their reporters described it as "a very angry song," and it is, and it should be.

As I listened to "The Streets of Minneapolis" I was transported back to the angry 1960's and the gravelly voice of Barry McGuire belting out his own anti-war rage in "Eve of Destruction."   Artists like McGuire, Dylan, Baez, and County Joe and the Fish captured their rage and shared it with the world, and Bruce Springsteen has captured his.

Springteen's new song is so on-target that the White house has already issued a rebuke, with a spokesperson calling it "irrelevant"" and "inaccurate."  Here are the lyrics, so you decide:

THE STREETS OF MINNEAPOLIS

by Bruce Springsteen

"THROUGH THE WINTER'S ICE AND COLD

DOWN NICOLLET AVENUE

A CITY AFLAME FOUGHT FIRE AND ICE 

'NEATH THE OCCUPIER'S BOOTS

KING TRUMP'S PRIVATE ARMY FROM THE DHS

GUNS BELTED TO THEIR COATS

CAME TO MINNEAPOLIS TO ENFORCE THE LAW

OR SO THEIR STORY GOES

AGAINST SMOKE AND RUBBER BULLETS

BY THE DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT

CITIZENS STOOD FOR JUSTICE

THEIR VOCIES RINGING THROUGH THE NIGHT

AND THERE WERE BLOODY FOOTPRINTS

WHERE MERCY SHOULD HAVE STOOD

AND TWO LEFT TO DIE ON SNOW-FILLED STREETS

ALEX PRETTI AND RENEE GOOD

OH OUR MINNEAPOLIS, I HEAR YOUR VOICE

SINGING THROUGH THE BLOODY MIST

WE'LL TAKE OUR STAND FOR THIS LAND

AND THE STRANGER IN OUR MIDST

HERE IN OUR HOME THEY KILLED AND ROAMED

IN THE WINTER OF '26

WE'LL REMEMBER THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO DIED

ON THE STREETS OF MINNEAPOLIS

TRUMP'S FEDERAL THUGS BEAT UP ON

HIS FACE AND HIS CHEST

THEN WE HEARD THE GUNSHOTS

AND ALEX PRETTI LAY IN THE SNOW, DEAD

THEIR CLAIM WAS SELF-DEFENSE, SIR

JUST DON'T BELIEVE YOUR EYES

IT'S OUR BLOOD AND BONES

AND THESE WHISTLES AND PHONES

AGAINST MILLER AND NOEM'S DIRTY LIES

NOW THEY SAY THEY'RE HERE TO UPHOLD THE LAW

BUT THEY TRAMPLE ON OUR RIGHTS

IF YOUR SKIN IS BLACK OR BROWN MY FRIEND

YOU CAN BE QUESTIONED OR DEPORTED ON SIGHT

IN CHANTS OF ICE OUT NOW

OUR CITY'S HEART AND SOUL PERSISTS

THROUGH BROKEN GLASS AND BLOODY TEARS

ON THE STREETS OF MINNEAPOLIS"

A glove can cover a rotting hand, but no amount of spray tan can conceal a rotting soul, especially with artists the caliber of Bruce Springsteen shining a light on it!  Springsteen has it right, and the brave patriots in Minneapolis have it right:   ICE OUT NOW!