{"id":2257534,"date":"2026-01-30T05:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T05:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2257534"},"modified":"2026-01-30T05:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T05:55:11","slug":"bruce-springsteen-pens-scathing-protest-song-streets-of-minneapolis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/bruce-springsteen-pens-scathing-protest-song-streets-of-minneapolis\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Springsteen Pens Scathing Protest Song &#8216;Streets of Minneapolis&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wWKSoxG1K7w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Bruce Springsteen released arguably the most pointed protest song of his career on Wednesday, January 28\u2014written, he said, the same day that 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal agents amid their immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis,\u201d Springsteen wrote in a statement accompanying the song on his social media channels and website. \u201cIt\u2019s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free,\u201d he signed the posts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKing 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 Springsteen snarls at the end of the opening verse.<\/p>\n<p>He goes on to lament the killings of Pretti and Good, naming them directly: \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 He describes \u201cTrump\u2019s federal thugs\u201d beating and shooting Pretti, then cites \u201cMiller and Noem\u2019s dirty lies,\u201d referring to the responses to the killings of <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/01\/10\/us\/rennee-good-ice-shooting-minnesota.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Good<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/01\/25\/us\/politics\/trump-administration-minneapolis-shooting-response.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Pretti<\/a> by Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice \/ Crying through the bloody mist,\u201d he sings in the chorus, vowing, \u201cWe\u2019ll remember the names of those who died \/ On the streets of Minneapolis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also decries immigration officials\u2019 treatment of people of color\u2014\u201dIf your skin is black or brown, my friend \/ You can be questioned or deported on sight\u201d\u2014and pledges, \u201cWe\u2019ll take our stand for this land \/ And the stranger in our midst.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The song closes with \u201cICE out!\u201d protest chants.<\/p>\n<p>The release of \u201cStreets of Minneapolis\u201d comes less than two weeks after Springsteen\u2019s surprise appearance at the annual Light of Day benefit in Red Bank, where he dedicated his 1978 heartland anthem \u201cThe Promised Land\u201d to \u201cmother of three and American citizen Renee Good,\u201d a 37-year-old poet who was shot and killed on January 7.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bruce Springsteen - Live | The Promised Land - Light of Day 2026 @ Count Basie , Red Bank NJ 1\/17\/26\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RcqHvsqxVsY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201c[\u2026] I wrote this song as an ode to American possibility\u2026both to the beautiful but flawed country that we are, and to the country that we could be,\u201d he said in a speech beforehand. \u201cNow, right now, we are living through incredibly critical times. The United States\u2014the ideals and the values for which it stood for the past 250 years\u2014is being tested as it has never been in modern times. Those values and those ideals have never been as endangered as they are right now [\u2026].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As in \u201cThe Promised Land,\u201d Springsteen\u2019s harmonica solo punctuates the guitar-heavy \u201cStreets of Minneapolis.\u201d <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2026\/01\/28\/bruce-springsteens-streets-of-minneapolis-revives-the-sound-of-protest\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">An article in <em>Salon<\/em> noted<\/a> that the song \u201cborrows [its] melody, at least in part, from \u2018Desolation Row,\u2019\u2026from Minnesota\u2019s own Bob Dylan [\u2026].\u201d Springsteen\u2019s wife and E Street bandmate Patti Scialfa sings background vocals on the track, as do four members of the gospel-tinged E Street Choir (Ada Dyer, Curtis King, Lisa Lowell and Michelle Moore). Longtime producer Ron Aniello plays bass, drums, organ and piano. The song\u2019s title nods to Springsteen\u2019s socially conscious Academy Award-winning \u201cStreets of Philadelphia,\u201d written for the 1993 Tom Hanks film <em>Philadelphia<\/em>, a drama centered on the HIV\/AIDS crisis.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_843007\" style=\"width: 788px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-843007\" class=\"size-full wp-image-843007\" src=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bruce-Springsteen.jpg\" alt=\"Bruce Springsteen performing\" width=\"778\" height=\"519\" srcset=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bruce-Springsteen.jpg 778w, https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bruce-Springsteen-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bruce-Springsteen-598x399.jpg 598w, https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bruce-Springsteen-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bruce-Springsteen-285x190.jpg 285w, https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bruce-Springsteen-105x70.jpg 105w, https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bruce-Springsteen-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bruce-Springsteen-499x333.jpg 499w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 778px) 100vw, 778px\" data-eio=\"l\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-843007\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Shutterstock\/Ben Houdijk<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The release also comes on the heels of Springsteen\u2019s \u201cLand of Hope and Dreams\u201d tour with the E Street Band last year, during which he delivered speeches denouncing the Trump administration each night. \u201cIn my home\u2014the America I love, the America I have written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years\u2014is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration,\u201d he said at the tour\u2019s opening concert in mid-May in Manchester, England.<\/p>\n<p>Setlists for those 16 shows included the tour\u2019s titular song as well as \u201cLong Walk Home\u201d\u2014introduced as \u201ca prayer for my country\u201d\u2014and solemn, soulful performances of \u201cMy City of Ruins\u201d from \u201cThe Rising,\u201d his 2002 album <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/articles\/arts-entertainment\/20-years-later-bruce-springsteens-the-rising-is-worth-revisiting-on-9-11\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">released in the aftermath of September 11<\/a>. Shortly after that first Manchester show, he dropped a digital EP of those songs and the speeches that preceded them.<\/p>\n<p>Springsteen <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/bruce-springsteen-new-solo-album-1235367767\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">told <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> over the summer<\/a> that he had finished a solo album, expected sometime in 2026, but did not provide further details about its contents.<\/p>\n<p>Springsteen concluded most shows on last year\u2019s tour with fiery covers of Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cChimes of Freedom,\u201d a song he most famously sang at a massive, historic concert in East Berlin in July 1988, about 16 months before the Berlin Wall came down. Prefacing the song, he addressed the crowd: \u201cI\u2019ve come to play rock \u2018n\u2019 roll for you,\u201d he said, reciting the words phonetically in German, \u201cin the hope that one day all barriers will be torn down.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"section 3-column-list recent-articles-with-content\">\n<div class=\"module row\">\n<div class=\"col-sm-4\">\n<div class=\"facet\">\n<div class=\"facet-hd\"> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/articles\/arts-entertainment\/clarence-b-jones-mlk-speechwriter\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"thum\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"190\" class=\"attachment-featured-md size-featured-md wp-post-image lazyload ewww_webp_lazy_load\" alt=\"Clarence B. Jones in &quot;The Baddest Speechwriter of All&quot;\" src=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/clarence-b-jones-290x190.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/clarence-b-jones-290x190.jpg 290w, https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/clarence-b-jones-105x70.jpg 105w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-eio-rwidth=\"290\" data-eio-rheight=\"190\" src-webp=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/clarence-b-jones-290x190.jpg.webp\" srcset-webp=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/clarence-b-jones-290x190.jpg.webp 290w, https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/clarence-b-jones-105x70.jpg.webp 105w\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"190\" src=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/clarence-b-jones-290x190.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-md size-featured-md wp-post-image\" alt=\"Clarence B. Jones in &quot;The Baddest Speechwriter of All&quot;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/clarence-b-jones-290x190.jpg 290w, https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/clarence-b-jones-105x70.jpg 105w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" data-eio=\"l\"\/><\/div>\n<p> <\/a><\/div>\n<p> Clarence B. Jones, who grew up in Burlington County, is the subject of <em>The Baddest Speechwriter of All<\/em>, currently screening at Sundance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-sm-4\">\n<div class=\"facet\">\n<div class=\"facet-hd\"> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/articles\/arts-entertainment\/the-friends-house-is-here-nj-native-secret-film-iran\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"thum\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"190\" class=\"attachment-featured-md size-featured-md wp-post-image lazyload ewww_webp_lazy_load\" alt=\"Still from &quot;The Friend's House Is Here&quot; film\" src=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-Friends-House-Is-Here-Sundance-Iran-290x190.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-Friends-House-Is-Here-Sundance-Iran-290x190.jpg 290w, https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-Friends-House-Is-Here-Sundance-Iran-105x70.jpg 105w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-eio-rwidth=\"290\" data-eio-rheight=\"190\" src-webp=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-Friends-House-Is-Here-Sundance-Iran-290x190.jpg.webp\" srcset-webp=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-Friends-House-Is-Here-Sundance-Iran-290x190.jpg.webp 290w, https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-Friends-House-Is-Here-Sundance-Iran-105x70.jpg.webp 105w\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"190\" src=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-Friends-House-Is-Here-Sundance-Iran-290x190.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-md size-featured-md wp-post-image\" alt=\"Still from &quot;The Friend's House Is Here&quot; film\" srcset=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-Friends-House-Is-Here-Sundance-Iran-290x190.jpg 290w, https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-Friends-House-Is-Here-Sundance-Iran-105x70.jpg 105w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" data-eio=\"l\"\/><\/div>\n<p> <\/a><\/div>\n<p> <em>The Friend&#8217;s House is Here<\/em>, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, follows a vibrant community of artists staging underground plays in Tehran.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>(function(d, s, id) {\n  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n  js.src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.11&appId=332639600141810&autoLogAppEvents=1\";\n  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source njmonthly.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ufeff\ufeff Bruce Springsteen released arguably the most pointed protest song of his career on Wednesday, January 28\u2014written, he said, the same day that 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal agents amid their immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis. \u201cI wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2257535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2257534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bruce-Springsteen-Pens-Scathing-Protest-Song-Streets-of-Minneapolis.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2257534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2257534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2257534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2257536,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2257534\/revisions\/2257536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2257535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2257534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2257534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2257534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}