\n\tBruce Springsteen<\/a> released one of the most politically charged tracks of his career on Wednesday (Jan. 28) with the surprise drop of the smoldering protest<\/a> song \u201cStreets of Minneapolis.\u201d In a statement, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said the song was written on Saturday (Jan. 24) and recorded on Tuesday (Jan. 27) in response to \u201cthe state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tExplore\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n \t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \n\tIn the tradition of one of his icons, folk legend Woody Guthrie, the song\u2019s lyrics plainly and powerfully tell the story of the pitched battles being fought on the streets of the city as citizens stand up and push back on the sometimes violent immigration raids being carried out by the Trump administration. Specifically, he pays tribute to the violent actions by border and ICE agents that so far this month have resulted in the killings of two American citizens: 37-year-old mother of three Ren\u00e9e Good and 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti.<\/p>\n \n\tSpringsteen dedicated the song to the people of Minneapolis, as well as \u201cour innocent immigrant neighbors,\u201d and to the memories of Good and Pretti.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Nebraska<\/em>-like urgent rocker opens with just Springsteen and spare instrumentation as he seethes, \u201cThrough the winter\u2019s ice and cold\/ Down Nicollet Avenue\/ A city aflame fought fire and ice\/ \u2018Neath an occupier\u2019s boots\/ King Trump\u2019s private army from the DHS\/ Guns belted to their coats\/ Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law\/ Or so their story goes.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tThe song, which is a callback to Springsteen\u2019s Oscar and Grammy-winning 1994 soundtrack anthem \u201cStreets of Philadelphia\u201d from director Jonathan Demme\u2019s 1993 AIDS drama Philadelphia<\/em>, bursts into a full band roar by the second verse. Springsteen praises the brave push-back from residents of Minneapolis against the masked ICE and other border patrol enlistees who have descended on the city by the thousands this month to carry out Trump\u2019s immigration agenda.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAgainst smoke and rubber bullets\/ By the dawn\u2019s early light\/ Citizens stood for justice\/ Their voices ringing through the night,\u201d he sings over chiming guitars and a steady drum beat. \u201cAnd there were bloody footprints\/ Where mercy should have stood\/ And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets\/ Alex Pretti and Renee Good.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tSpringsteen joins a rising chorus of American citizens, a handful of Republican legislators and fellow artists including Billie Eilish<\/a> and Finneas, Dave Matthews<\/a>, Moby<\/a>, Olivia Rodrigo<\/a>, the Chicks as well as a raft of Hollywood stars decrying the aggressive tactics employed by Trump\u2019s immigration enforcers. They\u2019ve spoken out after the Jan. 7 killing of Good, who was shot to death by ICE agent Jonathan Ross amid Trump administration claims that she \u201cweaponized\u201d her car against Ross, despite video of the incident that appears to show her turning her car away from him and attempting to leave the scene of an ICE enforcement action. <\/p>\n \n\tSimilarly, after Trump and several members of his administration rushed to label Pretti a \u201cdomestic terrorist\u201d and \u201cassassin\u201d in the hours after his killing by an unidentified U.S. Border Patrol agent on Friday (Jan. 24), multiple video angles of his slaying appear to show him attempting to help a woman who had been thrown violently to the ground by agents amid a protest against their actions. Pretti, a licensed gun owner who video appeared to show had his holstered gun taken away from him just seconds into the confrontation, was shot 10 times while laying prone and pinned to the ground by half a dozen masked officers.<\/p>\n \n\tSpringsteen\u2019s plainspoken lyrics call out the people of Minneapolis, whose voices he says he hears \u201cthrough the bloody mist,\u201d vowing to take a stand \u201cfor this land\/ And the stranger in our midst\u201d and remember the names of those who died on their city\u2019s streets.<\/p>\n \n\tThe song is also a call-back to one of the Boss\u2019 most intense protest anthems, 2001\u2019s \u201cAmerican Skin (41 Shots),\u201d his passionate response to the 1999 NYPD killing of unarmed Amadou Diallo. Along with the serially misunderstood anti-Vietnam War anthem\u201dBorn in the U.S.A.\u201d and his John Steinbeck-inspired paean to the disenfranchised and trampled upon, \u201cThe Ghost of Tom Joad,\u201d Springsteen\u2019s latest is in keeping with his tradition of powerfully responding to the tenor of the times. And in keeping with his disdain for former reality TV star Trump, during the first Trump administration, he released \u201cThat\u2019s What Makes Us Great,<\/a>\u201d a gritty song that spun the president\u2019s \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d slogan in defense of immigrants who come to America in search of a dream and freedom. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cTrump\u2019s federal thugs beat up on\/ His face and his chest\/ Then we heard the gunshots\/ And Alex Pretti lay in the snow, dead,\u201d Springsteen sings on the new song of Pretti, who was a nurse on an intensive care unit at the Department of Veterans Affairs. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cTheir claim was self defense, sir\/ Just don\u2019t believe your eyes,\u201d he continues. \u201cIt\u2019s our blood and bones\/ And these whistles and phones\/ Against Miller and Noem\u2019s dirty lies,\u201d the latter a call out to White House deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller \u2014\u00a0who was the one who referred to Pretti as an \u201cassassin\u201d \u2014\u00a0and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who also issued what appear to be misleading and inflammatory statements in the moments after the killing claiming that Pretti intended to \u201cmassacre\u201d agents.<\/p>\n \n\tThe song ends with Springsteen lamenting the trampling of rights by officers eager to question or deport anyone with Black or brown skin, while amplifying the frequently shouted cries of \u201cICE out now\u201d heard at protests around the nation over the past few months.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHere in our home they killed and roamed\/ In the winter of \u201926\/ We\u2019ll take our stand for this land\/ And the stranger in our midst\/ We\u2019ll remember the names of those who died\/ On the streets of Minneapolis,\u201d he sings in the final, urgent refrain.<\/p>\n \n\tListen to \u201cStreets of Minneapolis\u201d below.<\/p>\n\n
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