"American Skin (41 Shots)" is a song written by Bruce Springsteen, inspired by the police shooting death of Amadou Diallo. It premiered during the band's 1999–2000 reunion tour in concert in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

on June 4, 2000, the final concert before the tour's final ten-show run at

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

's Madison Square Garden, where it was featured again. The performance led to some controversy in New York City, where the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association called for a boycott of Springsteen's shows.

Composition and release

The song was first released as a live version on the '' Live in New York City'' album. The same version appeared a few years later on '' The Essential Bruce Springsteen''. In April 2001, a studio version of the song was released as a very rare U.S.-only one-track radio promotional single on

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the i ...

. A music video featuring the performance from the New York City show was released in 2001 and directed by Jonathan Demme. A studio version appears on Springsteen's 2014 album '' High Hopes''.

Live performances

"American Skin (41 Shots)" was played at several concerts in April 2012 on the

Wrecking Ball Tour The Wrecking Ball World Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to promote Springsteen's seventeenth studio album, ''Wrecking Ball'', which was released on March 5, 2012. It was the first tour for the E Street Band with ...

in response to the

killing of Trayvon Martin On the night of February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, United States, George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American boy. Zimmerman, a 28-year-old man of mixed race, was the neighborhood watch coordinator for his ...

. Springsteen performed the song on July 16, 2013, a few days following

George Zimmerman George Michael Zimmerman (born October 5, 1983) is an American man who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old black boy, in Sanford, Florida, on February 26, 2012. On July 13, 2013, he was acquitted of second-degree murder in '' Flori ...

's controversial not guilty verdict. It was again dedicated to Martin at the Limerick, Ireland, concert with Springsteen saying before the song "I want to send this one out as a letter back home. For justice for Trayvon Martin". Springsteen was recognized by the NAACP with the Humanitarian Award on December 3, 2000. Springsteen played "American Skin (41 Shots)" at selected shows during The River Tour in 2016.

Covers

Rock band

Living Colour Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. The band currently consists of guitarist Vernon Reid, lead vocalist Corey Glover, drummer Will Calhoun and bassist Doug Wimbish (who replaced Muzz Skillings in 1992). S ...

performed a cover of "American Skin (41 Shots)" at the

Auditorium Stravinski The Montreux Music & Convention Centre (formerly and still commonly known as the Montreux Convention Centre) is a multi-purpose complex located in Montreux, Switzerland. It hosts the annual Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival ...

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, Switzerland on, July 20, 2001. In 2016, singer-songwriter Jackson Browne performed a cover of "American Skin (41 Shots)" at

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (HSB), originally Strictly Bluegrass, is an annual free and non-commercial music festival held the first weekend of October in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. Conceived and subsidized by San Francisco ve ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

's Golden Gate Park. In 2016

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

sang a portion of the song to

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

in an interview on Apple Music. The studio version of Blige's cover featured American rapper

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his progressive musical styles and socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generat ...

. In June 2020, the American band Black Veil Brides released a cover of "American Skin (41 Shots)" in support of

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...

References

External links

American Skin (41 Shots)
- Lyrics on Bruce Springsteen's site
"American Skin (41 Shots)" Live in Tampa, FL 03/23/12
{{authority control 2000 songs Bruce Springsteen songs Columbia Records singles Songs about New York City Songs written by Bruce Springsteen Song recordings produced by Bruce Springsteen