Just saw on Bluesky that Bruce Springsteen - someone always on the side of truth justice and the American Way - released a protest song honoring the people of Minneapolis for their struggle:
Bruce does not hold back in his lyrics: He names trump and his thugs as the instigators of violence, and even notes that the architects of the violence - Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem - are equally at fault (bit disappointing he didn't include Border Patrol (ex)capo Greg Bovino, but not a lot of words rhyme with 'Bovino' I guess).
He names the two victims - Renee Good and Alex Pretti - left dead at the hands of ICE thugs, ensuring in some way their names and their importance to this fight will not fade from our memories.
The song harkens back to the protest songs that rose up throughout American history, from the anti-war anti-racism songs of the 1960s back to the union songs of the Great Depression (and arguably the anti-slavery tunes of the antebellum era). Springsteen openly admits the influence Pete Seeger has on his music, and this is Bruce paying back his mentor and then some.
So this is what it feels like now. We're in the era of Kent State and Chicago '68 and Matewan and the Strikes of 1910 and the Abolition movement from the 1840s to the Civil War. Welcome to the Rebellion.
We're a nation now under attack by the corrupt powers in high places. Thank God we got the songs to keep us fighting through the tear gas and fire.
1 comment:
Good on Bruce for doing this, joining the ranks of "Ohio" and the output of the Dropkick Murphys. I've been saying for a while that at least we might get a few good songs out of this absolute chaos and madness.
-Doug in Sugar Pine
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