Bruce Springsteen - "Streets of Minneapolis"

Bruce Springsteen released the single "Streets of Minneapolis" earlier this week.   

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

Bruce has always been a populist, but his stories were encoded with the themes of Americana (e.g., "Badlands", "My Hometown", "Born in the USA"), which often caused casual listeners to focus on the story at the expense of the message.  Even "The Ghost of Tom Joad", which had been his most overtly political song, borrowed its frame from "The Grapes of Wrath".  

"Streets of Minneapolis" abandons all such conceits, and the message is raw and direct.  

"Streets of Minneapolis" -- studio, live 2026-01-30*

* bonus link: The live link above is from a 3 song set with Tom Morello, in which they also did "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and John Lennon's "Power to the People".  At the beginning of the set, he says "nuance is wonderful, but sometimes you need to kick them in the teeth."

Rage Against the Machine - "Freedom"

The militant poet in once again, check it
It’s set up like a deck of cards
They’re sending us to early graves
For all the diamonds
They’ll use a pair of clubs to beat the spades
With poetry I paint the pictures that hit
More like the murals that fit
Don’t turn away
Get in front of it 

Brotha, did ya forget ya name?
Did ya lose it on the wall
Playin’ tic-tac-toe? 

Yo, check the diagonal
Three brothers gone
Come on
Doesn’t that make it three in a row?

Anger is a gift

The fourth and final single from RATM's 1992 self-titled debut LP, "Freedom" is about AIM, but is sadly also relevant today.

Rage Against the Machine - "Freedom"

Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

Grateful Dead - "Reckoning"

Bob Weir, a founding member of the Grateful Dead, died earlier this month.  And since I'm far behind on my posting, I'll just this entry to cover bassist and founding member Phil Lesh, who died just over a year ago, and vocalist and former member Donna Jean Godchaux (1972-1079), who died just a few months ago.  The only original and long-time members still alive are their two drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart (an inverse Spinal Tap, if you will). 

I liked them well enough, even though I was never the biggest Grateful Dead fan, but many of my friends were, and given the time and place of my birth, they were an ever present force in my cultural peer group.  Everyone I knew liked them to some degree or another; it was just a question of "how much" and not "if".  To that end, I have three personal stories from back in the day involving the Grateful Dead.  

The first was in High School (maybe early college? looking at this list, it could be any of the 1986--1989 shows) and involved standing in line at a music store to get wrist bands for the opportunity to stand in line to buy tickets for a Grateful Dead tickets.  Or maybe even a spinoff band, like the Jerry Garcia Band, or a Grateful Dead pseudonym, like The Warlocks.   The whole experience was arranged by someone more in the know than me (Robert Dempster?), but Muriel and I went along with Terry, Drew, and others and got the first stage wristbands.  They were designed so that you could not take them off, but we got them off anyway and were able to sell them for $20 or so.  Again, not for a ticket, but for a wrist band that would allow you the chance to buy a ticket.  Not a bad haul for an evening's work in the mid- or late-80s.  

The second story involves my inability to sync with Drew to see the Grateful Dead for one of their two 1992 shows in Hampton. I was graduated and working at NASA at the time, and Drew, still at UVA, had picked up an extra ticket and called me to say he was coming down and if I was interested in seeing the show.  I was absolutely was, and we made plans by phone several days before the show to meet by the fountain in the Hampton Coliseum parking lot.  We both knew the place and this would be an easy rendezvous point.  Unfortunately, because it was the Grateful Dead, they had "grately" expanded the perimeter with fencing, and the fountain was far inside the and given the crush of people, not in line of sight view.  I arrived at the appointed time, but with no means of communicating with Drew (no cell phones in 1992!), I just walked around the perimeter and then went home -- there really was nothing else that could be done.  I often tell this story to "younger" people who don't remember a time before cell phones -- synchronizing with your friends used to be difficult.  Jerry Garcia died in 1995, and I never had a chance to see the Grateful Dead again.  

The third and final story explains why I chose this LP to mark Bob Weir's passing.  I was at Terry's place at JMU, either late 1991 or early 1992, and we came back after partying all night (it may have been the same evening as the described in the "Cactusland" post).  He put on a tape of "Reckoning" as we drifted to sleep, and it was the perfect late evening listening, and I was touched by the beauty of the songs, especially "It Must Have Been The Roses".  Right before I passed out, I told Terry "I'm going to steal this tape."  And the next morning, I did just that.  I eventually bought the CD and returned the tape a couple of years later (he had completely forgotten the event), but this LP was my go to sleep music nearly every night that I lived in Seaford.  

Released in 1981, "Reckoning" was the acoustic live LP, with "Dead Set" as the electric companion released in the same year.  Judging the quality of Grateful Dead shows and ranking the versions of individual songs is far beyond my Dead expertise, but I've gathered that the 1980 shows that these tracks are selected from are considered exemplars of that era.  The CD version that I own has "Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie" omitted, which is unfortunate because it's one of the better songs.  

Of course, hardcore fans listen to soundboard recordings of individual shows, not live LPs.  But this is a "grate" starting point for casual fans, and it's perfect for late night listening.  

Standout songs: I have a special affinity for the first five (CD) or six (tape) songs, after which I was generally asleep: "Dire Wolf", "The Race Is On",  "Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie", "It Must Have Been the Roses", "Dark Hollow",  "China Doll"

Skip 'em songs: "Monkey and the Engineer" (for me, this song breaks up the flow of CD/tape)

Final score: 9/10.  You can make this a 10/10 by deleting a couple of songs and adding back "Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie" 

Bonus links:

Merging my professional and personal interests, the Internet Archive hosts the definitive Grateful Dead archive.  Via the Internet Archive, here are some of the shows that were used to make "Reckoning":

• 1980-09-26 Warfield Theatre
• 1980-09-30 Warfield Theatre
• 1980-10-07 Warfield Theatre
• 1980-10-07 Warfield Theatre
• 1980-10-11 Warfield Theatre
• 1980-10-13 Warfield Theatre
• 1980-10-14 Warfield Theatre
• 1980-10-25 Radio City Music Hall
• 1980-10-26 Radio City Music Hall
• 1980-10-27 Radio City Music Hall
• 1980-10-30 Radio City Music Hall

The I would have made if cell phones existed in 1992: Grateful Dead at the Hampton Coliseum: 1992-03-05 (IA), 1992-03-06 (IA)

Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay

Stax house band member and session guitarist extraordinaire Steve Cropper died this week.  Most people haven't heard of him, but he was instrumental in defining the "Memphis Soul" sound of the 1960s, and co-wrote or played on countless recordings, including decade-defining songs like "Knock on Wood", "In the Midnight Hour", "Soul Man", "Green Onions", and of course, "(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay".  

Cropper was a musician's musician, revered for his feel, timing, and soul. Our friend Gregg Brooks told us of his meeting Cropper in 2004. When Gregg told Steve of his love of Al Jackson Jr., Steve showed Gregg one of Al's old kits that was still in the studio. 

Rolling Stone's "12 Essential Steve Cropper Songs" is a great review of his contributions, and had a few surprises for me, including Rod Stewart's "Tonight's the Night" and Big Star's cover of the Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale".  "Femme Fatale" is one of my favorite songs and I was tempted to use it for Cropper's passing, but upon further reflection, how could I pass up the universally beloved "(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay"?

Otis Redding (and Steve Cropper) - "(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay"

Bonus link: Big Star - "Femme Fatale" 

Jimmy Cliff - "Trapped"

Reggae superstar Jimmy Cliff passed last week.  I originally knew of him via Bruce Springsteen's cover of "Trapped", which started to get radio airplay when it was released on 1985's "We Are the World" soundtrack.  I always liked it, and it was later when I heard the original (1972) and learned that Bruce turned an otherwise triumphant song into a dirge (surprise!).

Much later I learned about the movie "The Harder They Come" (and soundtrack), and their influence on bands like the Clash.  

Although I'm not sure he was ever "popular" in the US, he was extremely influential on artists that are popular in the US.  Everyone knows about Bob Marley, but Jimmy Cliff is probably the second most influential Jamaican musician. 

Jimmy Cliff - "Trapped" (studio), "Trapped" (live on David Letterman) 

Bruce Springsteen - "Trapped" (live 1984)*

* I consider myself lucky that when we saw Bruce in DC in 2023, he performed "Trapped".  Drew & fam saw the previous show in Greensboro, and they got "Darlington County" instead; "Trapped" is a far better song. 

Sonic Youth - "I Love Her All the Time"

 

Happy Birthday Danette!

This year, I'm back to doing a song that makes me think of her, and not necessarily a song that she necessarily likes. "I Love Her All the Time" is an excellent song from Sonic Youth's often overlooked 1985 sophomore LP, "Bad Moon Rising".  It's a tour-de-force of the loud-soft-loud formula, with long periods of discordant chaos, followed by slow progression into tender movements, and then back again.  And although "manic pixie dream girl" has slightly negative connotations, the song captures the essence of Danette's (partial & positive) MPDG role, as in "wonder" and "awe", relative to me. 

As much as Kim Gordon is the epitome of cool, I actually enjoy Thurston Moore on lead vocals slightly more.   His conventional, almost soothing but still detached, vocal approach is a pleasing contrast to the guitar cacophony that he accompanies. 

She comes into my mind

Twisting through my nerves

I don't understand

A word she says

She's on my side

I love her all the time

I love her all the time

I love her all the time

I love her all the time

"I Love Her All the Time": studio version, from "Live in Brooklyn 2011" 

2025-10-27 update: I just learned about 1985's "Gila Monster Jamboree"; direct link to "I Love Her All the Time" and the full concert.  

Previous birthday songs:

2024: Devo - "Uncontrollable Urge"

2023: Brandi Carlile - "The Story" 
2022: Plastic Bertrand - "Ça plane pour moi" 
2021: Adam and the Ants - "Christian D'or" 
2020: Walk Off The Earth - "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall"
2019: Nicki Minaj - "Monster"
2018: Bear Hands - "Giants" 
2017: Alvvays - "Archie, Marry Me" 
2016: Molly Hatchet - "Flirtin' With Disaster" 
2015: Avett Brothers - "Kick Drum Heart"
2014: Ani DiFranco - "32 Flavors" 
2013: The Green Pajamas - "Kim the Waitress"
2012: The Cure - "High"
2011: Blink 182 - "Josie"
2010:  Dead Milkmen - "Punk Rock Girl"  

Neil Young - "Too Far Gone"

Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts, Richmond VA, 2025-08-10

Just over a month ago, Terry, Drew, Bill, Bill's son, and I went to see Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts at the new Allianz Amphitheater in Richmond. As much as I'm a big fan of his, this was the first time I had seen Neil Young.  I would have preferred to have seen him with Crazy Horse, but with Frank Sampedro now retired and Nils Lofgren currently out, I'm not sure it would have really been the same.  The Chrome Hearts played well enough, so I can't really complain. 

With someone like Neil Young, whose discography spans almost 60 years, choosing which songs to play, and not play, is always an issue.  His setlist in Richmond was good, and contained many of my favorites ("Cowgirl in the Sand", "Fuckin' Up", "Southern Man", "Like a Hurricane") and none of my least favorite  songs (e.g., "When You Dance I Can Really Love").  When I returned home, Danette asked an interesting question: "What song do you wish he had played?"  I've thought about it, and there were several candidates: "Over and Over", "Words", "Barstool Blues", "Down by the River", etc.  All great songs, to be sure, but I've finally decided that I would have liked to have heard "Too Far Gone".  

Apparently performed frequently in concert starting in 1976, a studio version did not appear until 1989's excellent "Freedom".  It's a song that I played often in college, since bittersweet, poignant, and captures the essence of a situationship that I first hinted at in my review of "American Weekend".  

"Too Far Gone": studio version, MTV Unplugged 1989* 

We had to sit in the mulch & bushes since the lawn was completely filled.

Terry can fall asleep anywhere, anytime. 

* I remember seeing this on TV in either 1990 or 1991. I thought it was on SNL, but I've just been able to verify that it was on MTV Unplugged.