President Trump’s controversial phone call this week with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull spurred a hardly subtle response from Bruce Springsteen in the form of a timely cover song used to kick off a concert at Melbourne’s AAMI Park.
“We stand before you embarrassed Americans tonight,” Mr. Springsteen told concertgoers seconds after taking the stage Thursday evening shortly after American and Australian media began reporting that an irate Mr. Trump had abruptly ended a recent telephone call with his counterpart in Canberra.
“We’re going to use this to send a letter back home,” the singer said as he launched into a solo rendition of “Don’t Hang Up,” a doo-wop song originally recorded by The Orlons in 1962.
In footage from the performance uploaded YouTube, Mr. Springsteen can be seen singing: “Don’t hang up like you always do/I know you think our love is true/I’ll explain the facts to you, don’t hang up.”
“We come from a land of immigrants. This is an immigrant song,” Mr. Springsteen said afterwards before being joined on stage by the E Street Band for the night’s second number, “American Land.”
“There’s treasure for the taking/for any hardworking man/Who’ll make his home in the American land,” the song goes.
The Washington Post reported first Wednesday that Mr. Trump had ended his phone call with the Australian prime minister early Saturday over an arrangement made under the Obama administration that would see the U.S. accepting 1,250 refugees from an Australian detention center.
“Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!” Mr. Trump tweeted afterwards.
E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt similarly took to Twitter to weigh in on those reports, but offered Australia an apology rather than insults.
“Australia is, was, and always will be one of the USA’s best friends and closest allies. Apologies for today’s temporary embarrassment,” he wrote on Twitter.
Mr. Springsteen, 67, supported Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during last year’s race for the White House, and has been a frequent critic of Mr. Trump’s policies since before he took office last month. He’s currently scheduled to perform again in Melbourne this weekend before taking his tour to Sydney, Mount Macedon, Brisbane and Hunter Valley ahead of a pair of dates later this month in New Zealand.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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