Bruce Springsteen Releases ‘Streets Of Minneapolis’ And He’s Naming Names
Bruce Springsteen | photo by Joe Del Tufo for WXPN
On Wednesday, Bruce Springsteen released “Streets of Minneapolis,” a protest song condemning ICE violence and memorializing Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti, who were fatally shot by federal agents this month.
“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 on social media. “It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free.”
It’s not a rewrite of “Streets of Philadelphia.” It is, instead, a traditionally penned protest song with lyrics ripped straight from the headlines “King Trump’s private army from the DHS / Guns belted to their coats” and a repeated promise to “remember the names of those who died / On the streets of Minneapolis.”
Like the songs of Woody Guthrie, it’s immediate, speaking to the tragedy of the federal crackdown while highlighting the community care visible on the ground. But it’s not a quiet folk tune, this is a full-band treatment, backup singers, big sound, the whole Bruce thing. By the final chorus, an E Street Choir singalong swells into chants of “ICE out!”
“Streets Of Minneapolis” isn’t happening in a vacuum. At the Light of Day benefit in New Jersey on January 17, Springsteen dedicated “The Promised Land” to Renee Good: “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 f*ck out of Minneapolis.”
Like last year’s Land Of Hope & Dreams EP, this track arrives with the urgency of breaking news. You get the feeling there’s more where this came from.
Music and full lyrics below.
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
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
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
Crying through the bloody mist
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
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
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
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out