Bruce Springsteen seems equal parts outraged and inspired by the unrest and violence in Minneapolis.
So much so that on Saturday — the same day that Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old intensive care nurse who was fatally shot by federal agents during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest — the Boss began writing a song “dedicated to the people” of the city, Springsteen said Wednesday in a post on Bluesky.
“Recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis,” he wrote on the social media platform. “It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free”
Pretti and Good, who was killed earlier this month by an ICE officer, are both name-checked in the lyrics of the song, “Streets Of Minneapolis.” So is “King Trump,” his “federal thugs,” White House senior adviser Stephen Miller and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
One verse focuses heavily on the eyewitness video shot during Pretti’s killing — and calls into question the Trump administration’s claims that Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” who “violently resisted” officers.
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
Despite specifics in Springsteen’s new song, it’s more about Minneapolis’ residents who are protesting President Donald Trump’s immigration efforts, even if it’s at the risk of their own lives.
Springsteen croons in his new song:
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
Here the song in full on YouTube.
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