Hello, friends.
Here we are, I hope. I made it through this past decade of–
(Checks calendar)
–January.
January 2026 is historic, I think, for it’s nightmarish qualities. But I’m still here and still writing and I hope you’re still there and still reading. Today’s essay is a little long so let’s get right to the newsletter.
Welcome to the 158th installment of Gauthic Times, the newsletter about my writing, my life, and politics in Bruce Springsteen’s music. If you’re a reader who subscribes via Substack, my website, or Patreon, your encouragement helps motivate me. I’m not breaking any records but I’m thankful to have any audience.
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I finished the first draft of Four Moons this week. Between last Saturday and this Wednesday I wrote around 3,000 words. I quickly went back over Wednesday’s session of 650 words on Thursday and call the book “done.” For now.
Meanwhile, the first draft of Four Moons is still being posted to Patreon. So far I’ve posted about 87 of the 270 pages the first draft manuscript is. If you’re interested, Patrons at the $5 tier and above have access but there is also a way to buy into the whole book for $13.99. You’ll be notified when new installments are posted and you don’t have to be a long-term Patron.
Once again, I didn’t get to work on Project: Amusement Park this week but that will change now that the first draft of Four Moons is done. My goal is to roll up my sleeves and really get through the book so I can have a third draft to begin shopping around to agents.
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When Bruce Springsteen was inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, Bono said, “He’s not the Boss. He works for us.” In the 27 years that followed, Springsteen has proven that he does work for us. I still think that makes him the Boss, though. This week, Springsteen released the song “Streets of Minneapolis.” It’s not surprising that he would speak out in some way to the current dumpster fire that is America—he’s done so in interviews and in songs for more than 50 years—but the intensity of the anger and the fact that he names names is new. And welcome.
Certainly since the early-1980s, Springsteen hasn’t shied away from bringing politics into his music. Writing about people down on their luck and who’ve lost jobs will do that. But even in some of his most blatantly political—even angry—songs, I don’t believe he’s ever named any of the people he might actually be singing about. Whether it was Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush, they may be referred to by references more than name.
His 2007 album Magic is a masterpiece of political songwriting with many of the songs about the anger and fears of living in George W. Bush’s America, where lies were plentiful and where American citizens began losing Constitutional rights in the name of “homeland security.” While not every song on the album is politically motivated, most are. One of my favorites, “Last to Die,” takes a line that was said by John Kerry and brings it to home with the ridiculousness of Bush’s war in Afghanistan and Iraq. No name checks, though. If you’re aware of the history, you see where it’s from. It also serves as a great song for modern times because it feels like the “tyrants and kings form the same fate / Strung up at the city gates / And you’re the last to die for a mistake” feels like something that could happen any time with the current “president” alienating allies and welcoming other despots, it can all end badly.
Another politically motivated album was Wrecking Ball and his song, “Death to My Hometown” talks about sending “robber barons straight to hell” for killing people’s hometowns. The album, released during Barack Obama’s presidency, doesn’t take aim at him but rather at Bush’s (and Cheney’s—he has as much if not more blood on his hands) policies that allowed deregulation to happen and that brought on the financial collapse of 2009. Again, no names, though. As a result, the song was a barn stomper on his last tour in 2025.
The song “Rainmaker” from Letter To You is about Trump and those like him, who have no business getting to where they are except that people who are so tired of feeling ignored (“Seven hundred pounds of metal a day / You tell me the world’s changed / Once I made you rich enough / Rich enough to forget my name / And Youngstown” from “Youngstown,” found on 1995’s The Ghost of Tom Joad, another political album) that they’ll go along with whoever promises to help. This was a song I felt would’ve been great live and, sure enough, Springsteen finally brought it on tour in 2025, dedicating it to “Dear Leader,” so that there could be no argument where his intentions lied.
The magic (which is the name of another politically charged song) in Springsteen’s political writing is that because there are no names dropped, the songs can come up and be as important for the current time as when they were written and recorded. “Born in the U.S.A.” may be about Vietnam, but it is also about every war since then. The veterans of this century’s wars (Bush’s/Cheney’s wars) were left “In the shadow of the penitentiary / Down by the gas fire of the refinery / I’m ten years burnin’ down this road / Got nowhere to run / Ain’t got nowhere to go” just as their fathers and uncles were after Vietnam.
Which brings us to “Streets of Minneapolis.” At first glance, one might think that he did what Elton John did after Princess Diana died and rewrote a previous song. “Streets of Philadelphia” is Springsteen’s Oscar-winning song for the film Philadelphia, which earned Tom Hanks his first Oscar and humanized AIDS in popular music. The song still resonates because it can apply to other terrible situations one may be going through. “Streets of Minneapolis” is about right now.
The fifth line of the song is “King Trump’s private army from the DHS” and is where Springsteen rips off the curtain and says, “Enough.”
When I got to that line in the song, goosebumps rippled across my arms. He went there, I thought. He actually, finally went there!
But that’s not where it ends at all. He calls out Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem, puts “ICE Out” into the song, and writes about the conflict in detail. Most importantly, he honors Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Springsteen’s anger comes across and it’s the righteous anger of a person who understands what the American Dream is and the work this country has had to make to get as far as it had, before these dark times.
As a fan, I’m proud. As a person, I’m moved.
Just as he helped the country mourn the 2001 terrorist attacks with his album The Rising, Bruce Springsteen is trying to get the country to stand up against the tyranny we’re seeing.
I see it like this: he tried to do it subtly and in symbolism and allusion, the tricks of every great storyteller. He created characters one could identify with and gave them stories we understood. Now he sees that the time for symbolism and allusion has become the time for direct opposition. He’s an elder statesman looking at the youth and trying to get others his age to stand up, while also giving voice to the young ones and saying, “I’m with you.”
Yeah, he may be the Boss, but he really does work for us.
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Pamela and I watched Sinners, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, and Secret Mall Apartment last weekend.
Sinners lived up to the hype and I’m still thinking about it a week later. The whole movie is just so great. Ryan Coogler takes very traditional storytelling but does it in a new, fresh way.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. Is also really good. I expected to like it but Pamela really did, too. It’s as much about the creative process as it is about Springsteen. Jeremy Allen White’s portrayal is terrific. He never resorts to imitation while completely inhabiting the character.
Secret Mall Apartment is a documentary about a…well…secret apartment that was made in the Providence Place Mall in Providence, Rhode Island. Having been to the mall many times, the movie was even more enjoyable than it might’ve been without knowing the place, but that means little because it would’ve been pretty freakin’ enjoyable without the personal connection.
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Gautham: Bill Gauthier.com 
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