Bruce Springsteen Can’t Write All the Political Songs He Wants

Bruce Springsteen, acknowledged master of the political song, admitted he can’t write all the tracks he’d like – because anger at the subject matter sometimes gets in the way.

Alongside anthems including “Born in the U.S.A.,” “The Ghost of Tom Joad” and “Long Walk Home,” in 2026 he released “Streets of Minneapolis” as a protest against I.C.E.’s activities in the city, which resulted in the deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti.

Asked about the inspiration, Springsteen told Home of the Brave: “Anger, anger, anger at at what we at what is going on out there. You know, it’s an American tragedy – and I’ve written about America for 50 years.”

But he noted that an emotional reaction to specific events didn’t always result in the making of a song. “You’ve still got to get your craft together and you got to make the art,” he said. “I’ve been angry about plenty of things I couldn’t write about before. In this particular case I was able to write that song.”

He went on: “To me, music and politics, on some level, have always been intertwined. Because what is rock ’n’ roll or hip hop? It’s an expression of freedom.

“It’s like, we do plenty of music that’s fun, but we want to make you think about what it means to be an American, about your responsibility to your community, to your country.”

Bruce Springsteen Explains Benefit of Writing Political Songs – For Some

Stating that he’d grown up with a “deep respect for what the country could be,” he added: “That expression of freedom has implications – cultural implications, political implications, just by its nature. So, in my work, I’ve simply tried to follow those implications.”

But Springsteen also argued that it wasn’t beholden on all musicians to follow his example: “I’m not someone who necessarily believes every artist has to be political. I don’t think that’s so.

“Elvis, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield – you can make an argument that they changed the world as much as Woody Guthrie, just by what they exuded and what they performed. So I don’t think every artist needs to use his voice that way.

“But if you’re inclined to… I think [it’s] of great benefit to your own search for identity. That’s one of the things I’ve done with it.”