Springsteen's 'Streets of Minneapolis' is great in all the ways it needs to be

In his new protest song "Streets of Minneapolis," Bruce Springsteen goes full folkie, mostly eschewing imagery and allegory in favor of straightforward, angry testimony. His shift into Woody Guthrie-meets-Pete Seeger truth-to-power mode is unexpected and, frankly, doesn't make for the most compelling Springsteen song ever recorded. But it may be the most important one.

Springsteen may have named a band and an album after Seeger, but he's never really written like him, even on his folkier solo efforts. But "Streets of Minneapolis" is not your typical Springsteen song — it calls to mind Seeger's impassioned "The Death of Harry Simms," about a slain "union man," or his version of Florence Reece's "Which Side Are You On?," which calls out murderous union buster J.H. Blair by name. In Bruce's song, Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem are the ones getting name-checked, along with "King Trump." He's not messing around.

The result is much more on-the-nose than one of Springsteen's more typical story songs about a particular fictional Vietnam vet, highway patrolman, or immigrant lost to the Rio Grande. The lack of subtlety doesn't do the track any favors in terms of its artistry — even the names of the people it's dedicated to, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, feel sort of clunkily shoehorned in. But politically and socially, it feels like the right move. This isn't the time for a clever allegory or a representative story, Bruce seems to be saying — it's time to get pissed off.

Not that there's no poetry to be found. The line "there were bloody footprints where mercy should have stood" is as evocative as anything Springsteen has ever written, and manages to encapsulate the full shame and horror of what's happening in Minneapolis in nine simple words. And Bruce's chugging delivery — buoyed by a driving organ line from Ron Aniello, stirring gospel backing vocals from Patti Scialfa, Lisa Lowell, Michelle Moore and others, and Bruce's own mournful harmonica break — builds to a cathartic call to arms, and to remember what's been lost, that's chillingly effective.

And just like when he spoke out against Trump from the stage in England, Bruce knew exactly what he was doing when he wrote, recorded, and released this song in a matter of days. (A concept that would have no doubt given "Darkness"-era perfectionist Bruce the vapors.) By coming out with "Streets of Minneapolis" so soon after Alex Pretti's murder, Springsteen has the chance fan the flames of resistance while they're still hot, help propel the national conversation, and keep the pressure on an administration that seems like it just might, finally, be bending. As "The Boss" he knows he has the clout to do it, and with that, the responsibility.

Judging by the dozens of headlines and millions of views and listens the song has accumulated in its first day of existence, it seems like Bruce has lived up to that responsibility. So while musically "Streets of Minneapolis" is not "Jungleland," or even "The Rising," it's clearly heartfelt, timely, and possibly more important at this crucial juncture in our history than we can possibly know at this moment. And that's exactly what it needs to be.

Full lyrics to "Streets of Minneapolis"

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

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