"Streets of Minneapolis" Springsteen's protest song storms the charts and really upsets Trump
Bruce Springsteen has hit a nerve with "Streets of Minneapolis": The song, which is directed against ICE and Donald Trump's government, is not only hitting home in the USA, but also in Switzerland and Europe. The 79-year-old is not at all happy with the protest song.
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- With "Streets of Minneapolis", Bruce Springsteen has written a protest song against ICE and the Trump administration.
- In just over a day, the song has racked up 5 million views on YouTube and topped the iTunes charts in 19 countries - including Switzerland.
- "His skin is completely atrophied": this is how the White House and President Trump in particular reacted to the song.
Bruce Springsteen is obviously a master of his craft: on Monday, January 26, the singer sat down at his desk under the impression of the ICE operation in the state of Minnesota and wrote a song, which he recorded on Tuesday and released on Wednesday.
And "Streets of Minneapolis" is already a hit - and not just in the USA: as "List Wire" reports, the song has made it to number one in the iTunes charts in 19 countries. In addition to the USA and English-speaking countries such as the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, there are also various European representatives.
In France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland, for example, iTunes users also love the song. There are two videos about it on YouTube, which together have received five million clicks in just over a day. That shows: The 76-year-old US star has struck a nerve.
Listeners have "tears in their eyes"
The song, which is a reference to his 1994 hit "Streets of Philadelphia", moves his audience. "I live in [the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area] Twin Cities, and it brought tears to my eyes. You don't know how much it means to us to hear the love and support from the country and the world," writes one YouTube commenter.
"I fought in Ramadi, Iraq... but this was much scarier," writes another YouTube user from Minneapolis. "But this song and the comments I'm reading here make me feel like this little mill town in the Midwest just got a lot bigger, in the best way possible. Thank you, Bruce!"
A White House spokeswoman, Abigail Jackson, responded to Springsteen's song: The administration is putting pressure on Democrats in the states to help "remove dangerous criminal illegal immigrants," she quoted "Rolling Stone" as saying .
"His skin is totally atrophied": Trump responds
What the Trump administration is not focusing on, she said, are "any songs with irrelevant opinions and inaccurate information". The media should instead "report that the Democrats have refused to work with the government and instead have decided to give sanctuary to these criminal illegals."
Trump himself berates the singer as "highly overrated": "I never liked him, never liked his music or his radical leftist politics. And more importantly, he has no talent." On the other hand, he has sold over 140 million recordings, won 20 Grammys, 2 Golden Globes and an Oscar. In 2016, Springsteen received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
"The Boss"? Is "just a pushy, obnoxious jerk" and "dumb as a rock", Trump continues to rant: "This parched 'prune' of a rocker (his skin is completely atrophied) should shut his mouth," the 79-year-old rants.
The lyrics of "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 / 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
Refrain: 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
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
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 sightIn our chants of "ICE out now" / Our city's heart and soul persists / Through broken glass and bloody tears / On the streets of Minneapolis