Bruce Springsteen’s latest SiriusXM show, From My Home to Yours, was initially going to focus on great summer songs. However, with the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, this episode entitled, From My Home To Yours…Volume 6: Down to the River to Pray, wanted to share his thoughts about what’s currently happening regarding Americans’ health and U.S. leaders’ lacking response.
“With 100,000 plus Americans dying over the last few months and the empty, shamed response from our leaders, I’ve been simply pissed off,” he said at the beginning of the show. “Those lives deserve better than being simply inconvenient statistics for our president’s reelection efforts. It’s a national disgrace.”
Springsteen also added that the summer won’t necessarily be fun like previous years because “we will be contemplating our current circumstances with the coronavirus and the cost it has drawn from our nation.”
“We will be calculating what we’ve lost, sending prayers for the deceased and the families they have left behind. If you are ready for a rock & roll requiem, stay tuned,” he continued.
Springsteen didn’t stop there. He had a special message for President Donald Trump. “With all respect, sir, show some consideration and care for your countrymen and your country,” he said. “Put on a fucking mask. This is Bob Dylan with ‘Disease of Conceit.’”
Springsteen didn’t just share his thoughts about the pandemic on the bi-weekly SiriusXM show. He played a selection of somber tunes including Neil Young’s “When God Made Me” and the Sensational Nightingales’ “Burying Ground,” which played while Springsteen read the names of those who died from the illness.
“One of the most heartrending aspects of these deaths is that the virus has stolen from us our rituals, our funerals, our wakes, our house meetings with family after the burial,” he said. “Our ability to stand by our loved ones, to touch them, to kiss them as they pass, to look into their eyes and let them physically know how we love them. This is the cruelty of this disease. To say our last goodbyes to our loved ones by phone and then to return home alone to an empty house. It is a heartbreaking and lonely death for those afflicted and for those left behind to pick up the pieces.”
He also played “Dream Baby Dream” by Suicide and then spoke about the frontline healthcare workers who are dealing with COVID-19 every day.
“The souls intubated, struggling for each breath, are a testament to the deadliness of this virus and to the bravery of our frontline doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals,” he said. “Our healthcare professionals who willingly put themselves in harm’s way, risking their own lives for others deserve some special dispensation in heaven and here on earth. We owe them our eternal thanks.”
Before wrapping with some final prayers for the country. He wanted to remind listeners to head to the polls.
“He is warning us that Judgment Day is coming,” Springsteen said. “The election is only months away. Vote. God help us all. Vote before it’s too late.”
Listen to a snippet of Bruce Springsteen’s From My Home to Yours below.
If you subscribe to SiriusXM, you can tune in to Springsteen’s show at the following dates and times:
Wednesday, June 17 at 5:00 pm ET
Thursday, June 18 at 6:00 am and 3:00 pm ET
Friday, June 19 at 10:00 am and 4:00 pm ET
Saturday, June 20 at 12:00 am, 8:00 am and 5:00 pm ET
Sunday, June 21 at 9:00 am and 6:00 pm ET
Monday, June 22 at 7:00 am and 4:00 pm ET
Tuesday, June 23 at 12:00 am and 8:00 am ET
