Bruce Springsteen performs on May 14, 2025
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Bruce Springsteen released a new song, “Streets of Minneapolis,” rallying against what he called “the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis.”
No stranger to the protest song and long a voice for the voiceless, the musician pulls no punches in denouncing President Donald Trump, whom he refers to as “King Trump” and the Department of Homeland Security, which he refers to as Trump’s private army in the song. “Here in our home they killed and roamed, in the winter of ’26,” he sings.
In a statement, the musician said: “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 in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free, Bruce Springsteen.”
Pretti and Good were both slain by ICE agents on the streets of the city.
Springsteen has been building to this moment. In early January he dedicated a performance of his song “The Promised Land” to Good when he made an impromptu appearance at a New Jersey festival,
“If you believe in democracy, in liberty. If you believe that truth still matters, and that it’s worth speaking out, and it’s worth fighting for. If you believe in the power of the law and that no one stands above it. If you stand against heavily armed, masked, federal troops invading American cities, and using Gestapo tactics against our fellow citizens. If you believe you don’t deserve to be murdered for exercising your American right to protest; then send a message to this president. And as the mayor of that city has said, ICE should get the fuck out of Minneapolis,” he said on stage.
During his string of European tour dates last summer, Springsteen called audiences to action with his thoughts on the current state of United States. “A beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years is currently is the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous leader,” he said during one of the final shows in Milan. “Tonight we ask all of you who believe in democracy to rise with us, raise your voices and stand up against authoritarianism, and let freedom ring.”
The new song’s title calls back to Springsteen’s 1993, Oscar-winning song “Streets of Philadelphia,” the title song for the film “Philadelphia” about the AIDS crisis.
Listen to Streets of Minneapolis here.
Full lyrics:
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
Against smoke and rubber bullets
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
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 chants of ICE out now