American rock-and-roll icon Bruce Springsteen released a new single this week, his first original material since 2020’s Letter to You. Inspired by the recent clashes in Minneapolis between federal immigration authorities and left-wing agitators, Springsteen has perfunctorily titled his latest protest ballad “Streets of Minneapolis” — recycling his 1993 “Streets of Philadelphia,” a far better song.
Springsteen has long worn his political penchants on his sleeve. From the bruised working-class vignettes of Nebraska to campaigning for the Clintons and cohosting a podcast with Barack Obama, his career has long fused art with civic commentary. Yet his ventures into overt political songwriting have yielded uneven results — and this latest effort may well represent a new nadir.
The opening verse unfolds as a monotonous, folksy dirge, with Springsteen lamenting “King Trump’s private army” and
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