Bruce Springsteen delivers his response to the unfolding disaster in Minneapolis – a powerful riposte to the murderous exploits of ICE.

We hear a lot of talk that the protest song is dead, but that’s always been nonsense, as artists from different generations as diverse as Neil Young and Kneecap demonstrate regularly.

Now comes a topical tune knocked out in immediate response to the tragedy unfolding in Trump’s America by The Boss himself.

You might not be a fan of Bruce, and you might not think this is his best song, but if you have a heart you’ll agree it’s his most important since the similarly titled – but completely different – Streets Of Philadelphia.

Streets Of Minneapolis does not just demand to be heard; it needs to be heard. It’s just a pity it probably won’t be heard by the legions of Magas who inexplicably continue to follow the maniac in charge of their country as his power-crazed narcissism and impulsive rages continue to drag the world towards disaster.

Someone needs to stand up to him and it’s just a shame it has to be a musician when it ought to be the combined force of the governments of the rest of the world.

You can almost watch the numbers rise in real time on the YouTube link: approaching three million views in less than 24 hours so far.

Of equal enjoyment is watching the social media announcements from Magas proudly proclaiming their utter stupidity by boasting that they’ve been Springsteen fans for 50+ years but will never listen to him again now they’ve discovered what he stands for.

The kind of people, presumably, who never grasped the lyrics of Born In The USA. And definitely never listened properly to albums like The Ghost Of Tom Joad, Magic or Devils And Dust, filled with stories about poverty, immigrants, social injustice and the erosion of civil liberties in America.

Anyway, here it is, and here are the lyrics:

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 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 our 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