Bruce Springsteen releases incendiary protest song ‘Streets of Minneapolis’

In his most direct protest song in a long career of activism, Bruce Springsteen is singing about the ICE occupation in an incendiary new tune “Streets of Minneapolis,” which he posted on YouTube on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

“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 said on Instagram on Wednesday. “It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free.”

On Jan. 17 in an unadvertised performance at a benefit concert in New Jersey, Springsteen gave a shoutout to Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent on Jan. 7.

But he goes much further in “Streets of Minneapolis,” calling out “King Trump’s private army from the DHS [Department of Homeland Security],” mentioning vivid details about rubber bullets and bloody footprints on Nicollet Avenue and promising to remember the names of Pretti and Good.

“Streets of Minneapolis” is in the folk tradition of protest songs, detailing an injustice like Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane” or “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.”

“Streets of Minneapolis” starts out with a minimalist strum and tambourine for the first verse and then a full band kicks in. When the song builds to the chorus, the Boss is joined by female vocalists. There is a harmonica bridge before he rails about being deported on sight if your skin is Black or brown.

As with Springsteen’s post-9/11 anthem “The Rising,” “Streets of Minneapolis” features a musically upbeat, organ-fueled ending, promising to remember the names of those who died, as faint but fervent chants of “ICE out” fade away.

The title of the new song echoes Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia,” his 1994 Oscar-winning tune about the AIDS crisis, written for the film “Philadelphia” starring Tom Hanks.

Meanwhile, Springsteen pal Tom Morello has announced a “Defend Minnesota” concert for noon Friday, Jan. 30, at First Avenue in Minneapolis with Rise Against, Al Di Meola and Ike Reilly, with 100% of proceeds going to the families of Good and Pretti.

Here are the lyrics to the song:

Through the winter’s ice and cold

Down Nicollet Avenue

‘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

By 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

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

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

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

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

If your skin is black or brown my friend

You can be questioned or deported on sight

In chants of ICE out now

Our city’s heart and soul persists

Through broken glass and bloody tears

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

We’ll remember the names of those who died

On the streets of Minneapolis

We’ll remember the names of those who died