Nah, I don’t want to post the song itself because it’s hacky crap and sloppy virtue signaling. I like Judy singing “Stormy Weather” better. That’s a classic.
The Boss seems might proud of himself for spitting out this junk in time to attract some hate-buying. “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,” the well over-the-hill pop star said. State terror! Funny, none of the states that aren’t proto-Confederate nullification fans, which is what “sanctuary” states and cities have been allowed to get away with for far too long, have experienced any “terror.’
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[Verse 2]
Against smoke and rubber bullets
In the dawn’s early light
Citizens stood for justice
Their voices ringin’ 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[Chorus]
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[Verse 3]
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[Chorus]
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[Harmonica Solo]
[Verse 4]
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 our chants of “ICE out now”
Our city’s heart and soul persists
Through broken glass and bloody tears
On the streets of Minneapolis[Chorus]
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[Outro]
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out
I don’t have the energy to bother deconstructing that doggerel. I do like the call for “mercy.” Sounds nice, yet completely meaningless in context. Mercy to illegals who are facing accountability? Mercy for the criminals who breached our borders? Mercy for militant protesters who are breaking the law and assaulting officers?
Maybe I should be merciful to poor Bruce. One of the most embarrassing things about folk singers was that their anthems were usually hysterical and revealed the singers as none-too-bright. Dylan stood out because he dealt in irony and self-reflection. But even Bob: “too many people have died”? Gee, that’s profound.
Ethics Alarms 
This combat expert seems to make a solid case that the shooting of Alex Pretti was completely indefensible, no matter how much adrenaline the shooter was experiencing. What do you make of it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjN73-gn90Q
He must have gone to the William Shatner school of line delivery.
I didn’t get much further than “Irrefutable”. My assumption is, if you have to tell me that, it’s not.
Point about the line delivery, although it’s still crisper than mine.
If it were just a random video you came across, then I wouldn’t fault you for clicking away after “irrefutable.” However, I, who watched the whole video, posted it here with the assessment that the creator appears to back up his claim, and that the video is not full of empty reasoning as you might guess from an opening making such strong statements. What information do you have about Pretti’s death, and where did you get it?
Ugh. “Born to Run” and “The River” were brilliant. He had swallowed the kool-aid and bought into this own PR. That lyric is something truly sophomoric and pathetic.
jvb
Maybe Bob wrote that line to appeal to Joan Baez. It does stick out like a sore thumb.
Maybe Bruce Springsteen ginned up this doozy to try to get people to watch his flopped bio pic? Maybe he should re-release the bomb as “Deliver me from Minnesota, eh?” A really pathetic publicity play. And would the Springsteen demographic be for or against illegal immigration?
Bruce’s first 3 albums were such classics – All about coming of age and going to the shore and not having any money, but being so in love and being innocent and so full of shit and rebelling for nothing other than wanting summer to last forever!!
THAT I can/did relate to.
But now…What the hell? Springsteen, you’re deranged? WAKE UP?
I must say, TDS is sick powerful. PDR Volume 1.
Hey, The Boss, stay in your lane. You’re blowing my high.
Like Jimmy the Cheese Man said to Pauly in “The Pope of Greenwich Village”:
“Waiting tables is what you know. Making cheese is what I know. Let’s stay with what we know here.”
I agree with Bruce about Minnesota, and I don’t like the song. It’s just so…banal. There is, fortunately, a far more gifted songwriter who has dealt with the subject with wit and artistry. https://youtu.be/OjGHf7OvglM?si=A4zM_e6J1oMV7Kuw
“Occupiers”? Private army? ICE isn’t enforcing the law? Justice is ignoring Federal law and letting criminals free? “Left to die”? Mercy for what?
Honestly, JD, I have no idea what you could possibly agree with. It’s sentimental fantasy.
AND banal.
I agree that “Join ICE’ is better than Bruce’s song, just as ear wax-flavored jelly beans are better than the vomit-flavored ones. Good satire and protest songs don’t cheat: ICE isn’t “hunting down minorities’ any more than it’s hunting people who have 10 toes. If most illegal immigrants are minorities, it’s despicable to use that as a criticism.