Bruce Springsteen, who dedicated his song “The Promised Land” to Nicole Good at a recent Light of Day concert at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, has now written, recorded and released a protest song of his own, “Streets of Minneapolis.” You can listen to it below.
He posted it today to social media with the message:
I 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. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free, Bruce Springsteen
The song is very specific, with a chant of “ICE out now” and references to “King Trump’s private army from the DHS” and “Miller and Noem’s dirty lies.” It ends with the rallying cry, “We’ll remember the names of those who died on the streets of Minneapolis.”
Here are the lyrics and, below them, an embedded video of the song.
Through the winter’s ice and cold Against smoke and rubber bullets
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
In the dawn’s early light
Citizens stood for justice
Their voices ringing through the night
And there were bloody footprints
Where mercy should have stood
And two dead, 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
Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Crying through the bloody mist
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
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 our chants of ‘ICE out now’
Our city’s heart and soul persists
Through broken glass and bloody tears
On the streets of Minneapolis
Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
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
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
_________________________________________
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1 comment
Someone had posted a question just yesterday on Threads, wondering where are the protest songs? I answered that there are thousands of them recorded in basements and released independently, that you have to look for them. I added that the major corporations that own radio, record companies, and tech platforms are going along to get along with this administration and probably don’t want to rock the boat.