Bruce Springsteen released a new song titled “Streets of Minneapolis” Wednesday, in which the “Born in the U.S.A.” songwriter calls out “King Trump’s private army” and pays tribute to Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the two Minneapolis residents killed by ICE agents this month while protesting the immigration enforcement agency’s occupation of the city.
“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,” Springsteen wrote in a statement released in conjunction with the song. “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 classic Springsteen. What begins as a simple acoustic arrangement eventually transforms into a full-band anthem complete with backup vocals, harmonies and chants of “ICE out now.”
“Through the winter’s ice and cold / Down Nicollet Avenue / A city aflame fought fire and ice / ‘Neath an occupier’s boots,” Springsteen sings. “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 / Crying through the bloody mist,” the musician later sings in one of the song’s choruses. “We’ll remember the names of those who died / On the streets of Minneapolis.” The track’s cover art features a black and white photo of Minneapolis protesters holding up signs reading, “Neighbors Say ICE Out Now!”
In addition to Good and Pretti’s deaths, the practices employed by ICE and Border Patrol agents in Minnesota over the past several weeks have prompted state-wide protests, with thousands of Minnesotans filling the streets of Minneapolis even in freezing temperatures. The response has garnered more national attention and negative press for the Trump administration than any of the president’s other, past state-targeted immigration operations to date.
“Streets of Minneapolis” may not center on Springsteen’s home state of New Jersey, but the song covers familiar thematic territory for the legendary musician. Springsteen has put contemporary American political turmoil and unrest at the center of many of his past songs, including 1984’s “Born in the U.S.A.,” which adopts the perspective of a disillusioned and increasingly alienated Vietnam War veteran.
In 1994, Springsteen also released “Streets of Philadelphia,” a song written for the Oscar-winning 1993 drama “Philadelphia” and which similarly explores the HIV/AIDS crisis.
