\u201cThis tour is going to be political and very topical about what\u2019s going on in the country,\u201d he told the Minnesota Star Tribune. \u201cMinneapolis and St. Paul, that was the place that I wanted to begin it, and I wanted to end it in Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the stage, Springsteen paid tribute to \u201cthe power and the solidarity\u201d of the people of Minnesota. Predictably, Donald Trump wasn\u2019t happy. The president responded by labelling the musician a \u201cdried-up prune\u201d and urging MAGA supporters to boycott the tour.<\/a><\/p>\n That won\u2019t stop Springsteen. As longtime fans will know, he\u2019s never been afraid to share his political views, either on stage or off.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look back at some of the key songs that highlight the singer-songwriter\u2019s social conscience:<\/p>\n \u2018Lost in the Flood\u2019 (1973)<\/p>\n As far back as his 1973 debut album Greetings From Asbury Park, Springsteen has been writing emotional epics that reflect the reality of his homeland. \u201cLost in the Flood\u201d tells the story of a \u201cragamuffin\u201d soldier returning from the Vietnam War to find an America he barely recognizes. <\/p>\n In one verse, he describes a police force who meet violence on the streets with yet more violence, singing: \u201cOh, and some kid comes blastin\u2019 round the corner, but a cop puts him right away \/ He lays on the street holding his leg screaming something in Spanish \/ Still breathing when I walked away.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Johnny 99\u2019 (1982)<\/p>\n By the early 1980s, Springsteen\u2019s star was on the rise and politicians were attempting to use his name to win over voters. When President Ronald Reagan was campaigning for re-election in 1984, he gave a speech in New Jersey and couldn\u2019t resist referencing the popularity of Springsteen\u2019s new record, Born in the U.S.A. \u201cAmerica\u2019s future\u2026 rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire \u2014 New Jersey\u2019s own Bruce Springsteen,\u201d said Reagan.<\/p>\n Not long afterward, Springsteen was on stage in Pittsburgh when he responded to Reagan\u2019s words: \u201cThe president was mentioning my name the other day, and I kinda got to wondering what his favorite album musta been. I don\u2019t think it was the Nebraska album<\/a>. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s been listening to this one.\u201d <\/p>\n Springsteen then proceeded to play \u201cJohnny 99,\u201d his stark song about an automotive worker who gets laid off and is so distraught and distressed that he drunkenly murders a night clerk. Not quite the message of hope Reagan assumed he heard in Springsteen\u2019s music.<\/p>\n \u2018Born in the U.S.A.\u2019 (1984)<\/p>\n Ronald Reagan wasn\u2019t the only one to mistakenly think that Springsteen\u2019s massive 1984 hit \u201cBorn in the U.S.A.\u201d was a flag-waving, jingoistic anthem. Listen past the singalong chorus, however, and it\u2019s clear that Springsteen is returning to his earlier subject matter and writing about a disillusioned soldier back from Vietnam who finds himself alienated from society: rejected from a job at a local refinery and denied support by the V.A. <\/p>\n The latter detail made Reagan\u2019s love of the song even more ironic, as it was the president\u2019s decision to severely cut V.A. funding to the tune of some $500 million that exacerbated situations like the one Springsteen describes in the song.<\/p>\n \u2018The Ghost of Tom Joad\u2019 (1995)<\/p>\n The title track of Springsteen\u2019s eleventh studio album was inspired by Tom Joad, the protagonist of John Steinbeck\u2019s classic Great Depression novel The Grapes of Wrath. The book, published in 1939, was adapted into a film by John Ford the following year and also gave Woody Guthrie the idea for \u201cThe Ballad Of Tom Joad.\u201d<\/p>\n In Springsteen\u2019s song, he transports Joad out of the Great Depression and into the modern era, only to find that precious little has changed. He paraphrases Joad\u2019s famous final speech from the novel, singing: \u201cNow Tom said \u2018Mom, wherever there\u2019s a cop beatin\u2019 a guy \/ Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries \/ Where there\u2019s a fight against the blood and hatred in the air \/ Look for me, Mom, I\u2019ll be there\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n The song was covered by Rage Against The Machine for their 2000 covers album Renegades, and has frequently been played by guitarist Tom Morello since.<\/p>\n \u2018American Skin (41 Shots)\u2019 (2001)<\/p>\n Springsteen returned to the topic of police violence on \u201cAmerican Skin (41 Shots),\u201d which was inspired by the fatal 1999 shooting of 23-year-old Amadou Diallo by NYPD officers. Diallo was reaching for his wallet when the NYPD opened fire. They shot 41 times, with 19 bullets striking Diallo.<\/p>\n Originally released as a live recording, Springsteen revisited the song on his 2014 album High Hopes. In 2020, in the wake of George Floyd\u2019s death, Springsteen played the song on his radio show and dedicated it to Floyd\u2019s memory.<\/a><\/p>\n He added: \u201cWe remain haunted, generation after generation, by our original sin of slavery. It remains the great unresolved issue of American society. The weight of its baggage gets heavier with each passing generation. As of this violent, chaotic week on the streets of America, there is no end in sight.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Devils & Dust\u2019 (2005)<\/p>\n After appealing for unity on 2002\u2019sThe Rising, his response to the September 11 attacks, Springsteen turned his attention to the war in Iraq on his 2005 album Devils & Dust.<\/p>\n The title track concerns a soldier who is questioning his role and whether his mission is a righteous one, as he sings: \u201cI got God on my side \/ I’m just trying to survive \/ What if, what you do to survive \/ Kills the things you love \/ Fear’s a powerful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Long Walk Home\u2019 (2007)<\/p>\n Springsteen\u2019s 2007 album Magic was partly inspired by his reaction to the presidency of George W. Bush, who had been re-elected for a second term in 2004. When \u201cLong Walk Home\u201d was released, he told the New York Times: <\/a>\u201cIn that particular song a guy comes back to his town and recognizes nothing and is recognized by nothing. <\/p>\n \u201cThe singer in \u2018Long Walk Home,\u2019 that\u2019s his experience. His world has changed. The things that he thought he knew, the people who he thought he knew, whose ideals he had something in common with, are like strangers. The world that he knew feels totally alien. I think that\u2019s what’s happened in this country in the past six years.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018We Take Care Of Our Own\u2019 (2012)<\/p>\n In 2012, Springsteen\u2019s album Wrecking Ball hit shelves the same year President Barack Obama was running for re-election. Springsteen, who had been a vocal supporter of Obama since long before he was first elected president, allowed his song \u201cWe Take Care Of Our Own\u201d to be used extensively by Obama\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n However, much like \u201cBorn In The U.S.A.,\u201d it\u2019s been widely theorized that Springsteen\u2019s critique of his country has been overlooked by those who just hear the bombastic chorus. In one verse, he criticizes the government\u2019s failure to adequately respond to Hurricane Katrina and points out that, in that case, America didn\u2019t take care of its own.<\/p>\n \u201cThere ain’t no help, the cavalry stayed home,\u201d he sings. \u201cThere ain\u2019t no one hearing the bugle blowin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Death To My Hometown\u2019 (2012)<\/p>\n Many protest songs have been written about war, but fewer have been inspired by a financial crisis. Springsteen\u2019s \u201cDeath To My Hometown\u201d was written in the wake of the fallout from the 2008 market crash, and was fueled by his anger that those responsible got away scot-free.<\/p>\n He sings: \u201cThe greedy thieves who came around \/ And ate the flesh of everything they found \/ Whose crimes have gone unpunished now \/ Who walk the streets as free men now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Streets of Minneapolis\u2019 (2026)<\/p>\n Springsteen proved that he\u2019s still got a keen eye for a protest song with this year\u2019s \u201cStreets of Minneapolis,\u201d<\/a> a passionate broadside that showed his political fire hasn\u2019t dimmed. The song was dedicated to Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the two civilians who were shot dead by ICE agents in Minneapolis<\/a>.<\/p>\n The lyrics refer to \u201cKing Trump\u201d and describe ICE and Border Patrol agents as \u201cfederal thugs\u201d who killed Pretti and left him to \u201clay in the snow, dead.\u201d<\/p>\n Springsteen played the song solo at a recent \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest and performed it for the first time with full E Street Band backing last week on the opening night of his new tour, which fittingly took place in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-526205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Bruce](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1143482416-(1).jpg\")
Bruce Springsteen, pictured in 1975, has a long history of outspoken political activism, on and off stage (John Minihan\/Evening Standard\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/In-July-1988-Springsteen-played-to-some-300-000-East-Germans-thirsting-for-freedom-a-spectactular-ev.jpeg\")
In July 1988, Springsteen played to some 300,000 East Germans thirsting for freedom, a spectacle some argue may have had a hand in the Berlin Wall falling a year later (DPA\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Bruce-Springsteen-gets-a-hug-from-Jesse-Jackson-at-a-rally-opposing-prop-209-in-front-of-the-Federal.jpeg\")
In October 1996, Springsteen and Jesse Jackson teamed up to oppose California Proposition 209, a ballot initiative aimed at ending affirmative action programs in the state (Getty)<\/p>\n![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-83533829.jpg\")
In April 2008, Springsteen publicly endorsed Obama in the Democratic primary (Emmanuel Dunand\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Bruce](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/No_Kings_Protest_Minnesota_32782.jpg\")
Bruce Springsteen performed \u2018Streets of Minneapolis\u2019 during the \u2018No Kings\u2019 protest in St. Paul, Minnesota, on March 28, 2026 (Ellen Schmidt\/MinnPost via AP)<\/p>\n