Tune | A rapid response to Minneapolis, from Bruce Springsteen

In June 1970, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released a searing single called Ohio, just a few weeks after the shootings in Kent State, when the National Guard opened fire and killed students. “Four dead in Ohio,” as Neil Young’s lyrics put it.

It was a fast response to a horrifying news event.

On Wednesday, Bruce Springsteen released Streets of Minneapolis, just four days after Border Patrol offices shot and killed Alex Pretti, who was using a phone to record ICE activity in the city.

Springsteen won an Oscar for the similarly named Streets of Philadelphia, which helped force reluctant fans to confront the reality and ravages of the AIDS epidemic.

In this song, he is unsparing in his criticism of Donald Trump and others:

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

Earlier this afternoon, Springsteen posted a lyric video, seen above.

According to this article in the New York Times (gift article provided), Springsteen wrote the song on Saturday, practically in real time, and evidently has annoyed his targets. The Trump White House said it was not focusing on “random songs with irrelevant opinions and inaccurate information.”