Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
'Til you spend half your life just covering up
[chorus:]
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I got in a little hometown jam
And so they put a rifle in my hands
Sent me off to Vietnam
To go and kill the yellow man
[chorus]
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"
I go down to see the V.A. man
He said "Son don't you understand"
[chorus]
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I had a buddy at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He had a little girl in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go
I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in a dead man's town -
End up like a dog that's been beat too much -
Spend half your life just coverin' up
What kind of images are these?
Certainly not the images of a man with a lot of hope for the future, nor pride in the past.
Got in a little home town jam
Sent me off to Vietnam
This was happened frequency. The accused would appear before the judge, and the judge would give the accused two options ... one of which, was to go to Vietnam. And in this manner did support the troops.
The refinery won't hire him; the V.A. won't treat him.
His buddy who had a Vietnamese girl friend gets killed fighting the Communists in Khe Sahn, and the Communists won (this is not accurate ... I'll explain why in another post).
And the landscape - in the shadows of the penitentiary - one of the significant employers in Galesburg, Illinois (formerly home to the Maytag washing machine manufacturing company) is the penitentiary. Knox College to the North of it, Monmouth College and Western Illinois University to the south of it. Dan Braun, one of the best basketball players to ever wear a WIU uniform works at that penitentiary.
When I was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital the second time, it was ironic, because two of the staff were both Western Illinois University graduates - both of them sociology majors, as I recall. 6' 10" Walter also worked as a probation officer. Sociology majors weren't making a lot of money in 1984. Probably still aren't.
The penitentiary shadows, the gas fires of the refinery - this is a bleak landscape folks. Dystopian.
THIS is the USA into which "the Boss" was born and of which he sings. And if you don't get it, and if it doesn't bother you at least a little, then it's fair to say that irony is lying buried in its coffin, barely breathing, hardly moving.
