Springsteen Wrote a Song the Day Pretti Was Killed

Bruce Springsteen didn't wait long to turn a Minneapolis killing into a protest song. Just days after Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents, Springsteen has released "Streets of Minneapolis," a track that explicitly targets "Trump's federal thugs" and calls for ICE to leave the city, Rolling Stone reports. In a social media post on Wednesday, Springsteen said he "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." He dedicated it to Minneapolis residents, "our innocent immigrant neighbors," and in memory of Pretti and Renee Good.

The song's lyrics describe armed federal forces in the city, dispute official claims of self-defense in Pretti's death, and accuse Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem of spreading "dirty lies." "There were bloody footprints where mercy should have stood," Springsteen sings. "And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets. Alex Pretti and Renee Good." Another lyric: "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." He describes federal forces as "King Trump's private army from the DHS."

The track follows Springsteen's surprise appearance last week at the Light of Day benefit concert in Red Bank, New Jersey, where he condemned ICE and the killing of Good. "If you stand against heavily armed masked federal troops invading an American city, using Gestapo tactics against our fellow citizens," he told people in the crowd, then they should send a message that "ICE should get the f--- out of Minneapolis."

"Streets of Minneapolis" deliberately echoes the title of his 1994 Oscar-winning "Streets of Philadelphia" and continues his long-running engagement with political themes. But the speed of this release stands out, Rolling Stone notes. While he wrote "Roulette" less than a week after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, that song stayed unreleased for years. Springsteen has been an outspoken Trump critic since before the 2016 election, the Guardian reports. Trump has responded by calling Springsteen a "pushy, obnoxious jerk" and "not a talented guy."