With Powerful Minneapolis Anthem Springsteen Shows Why He’s The Boss

I’m just a regular old guy, a senior citizen. Once upon a time I had a powerful voice trained well enough to sing opera. But I could never sing and command an audience like The Boss, Bruce Springsteen has done in his epic career. Nor, despite writing some things now and then, here on Politizoom, earlier on DK and in other places long before that could I write as powerfully, especially about the soul of this country and the lives of Americans from rural/small towns to major cities the way Springsteen has done. Now that I think about it, given how he’s been unafraid of Trump/MAGA and Trumpism, how he had zero f**ks to give if Trump got conservatives to try and boycott him his putting out a song about what ICE has been doing was inevitable.

It’s not a mere song. It is, like many of his creations an Anthem. In the title of their article about Streets of Minneapolis Billboard calls it a ‘Searing Anti-Ice protest song.’ I’d say “searing” is exactly the right word.  According to the linked article Springsteen recorded the song on Saturday the 24th and recorded it on Tuesday the 27th. Now it’s out there for everyone to hear. And hear it they should.  Here are a couple of sections of lyrics:

The Nebraska-like urgent rocker opens with just Springsteen and spare instrumentation as he seethes, “Through the winter’s ice and cold/ Down Nicollet Avenue/ A city aflame fought fire and ice/ ‘Neath an 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.”

That last bit “or so their story goes” is a richly deserved heaping of contempt on ICE, DHS and all of Team Trump.  Billboard notes:

Springsteen’s plainspoken lyrics call out the people of Minneapolis, whose voices he says he hears “through the bloody mist,” vowing to take a stand “for this land/ And the stranger in our midst” and remember the names of those who died on their city’s streets.

I think they got that wrong. Minneapolis citizens called themselves to action and have no intention of stopping. Springsteen is calling on everyone else to stand shoulder to shoulder with them.  People around the country have done so and need to keep on doing so. The song makes note of both Renee Good and Alex Pretti.  While most attention is on Pretti’s killing Good’s was just as IN-defensible.  I urge you to read the linked article for lyrics I haven’t included here, and also for the broader picture of Springsteen’s long use of his music to call out wrong, and advocate for justice. It concludes:

The 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 “ICE out now” heard at protests around the nation over the past few months.

“Here in our home they killed and roamed/ In the winter of ’26/ We’ll take our stand for this land/ And the stranger in our midst/ We’ll remember the names of those who died/ On the streets of Minneapolis,” he sings in the final, urgent refrain.

There’s a link to the song which can be found on YouTube but I’ll post the song here:

I’m not ashamed to admit it took a while for the tears to stop flowing. Once I had gotten it back together I started working on writing and posting this. If you have the same reaction, take your time. Then share it as far and wide as you can.

Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula

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