Study of Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen

    Hello guys !

Today is thursday, the day of music, the day of song analysis. This time, I choose a Bruce Springsteen protest song : Born in the USA. Here is my study about it. Enjoy reading, but before all, let’s sing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZD4ezDbbu4

Born down in a dead man's town

The first kick I took was when I hit the ground

End up like a dog that's been beat too much

Till you spend half your life just covering up

Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.

I was born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.

Got in a little hometown jam

So they put a rifle in my hand

Sent me off to a foreign land

To go and kill the yellow man

Born in the U.S.A., I was 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 said "son if it was up to me"

Went down to see my V.A. man

He said "son, don't you understand"

I had a brother at Khe Sahn

Fighting off the Viet Cong

They're still there, he's all gone

He had a woman he loved in Saigon

I got a picture of him in her arms now

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary

Out by the gas fires of the refinery

I'm ten years burning down the road

Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go

Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.

Born in the U.S.A., I'm a long gone daddy in the U.S.A.

Born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.

Born in the U.S.A., I'm a cool rocking daddy in the U.S.A.

Bruce Springsteen :

     He was born on September 23, 1949 in Long Branch, New Jersey. In his early years, this singer-songwriter was mostly inspired by Elvis Presley and Sinatra. Later Springsteen became a popular icon thanks to his album Born in the USA, which sold about 30 million copies around the world. He won many awards and was nominated many times.

Context :

     From 1^rst November 1955 to 30 April 1975 a war took place in Vietnam, opposing North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

     North Vietnam, supported by China, Soviet Union and the Viet Cong (people who lived in South Vietnam and was communist), was a communist regime headed by Hô Chi Minh. South Vietnam, supported by USA and most of their allies in cold war, was anti-communist.

Analysis :

 

     “Born in the USA”, extract from the eponymous album released in 1984, is telling the story of an average man who is enrolled against his will to fight in Vietnam, and his return to America and his life after this lost war. This man represents every American soldier.

      In this song Bruce Springsteen criticizes war because some of his friends did not come back from there. This war separated his “brother”

     The second stanza denounces forced enrolling: the “little hometown jam” was only a pretext to send him, a man from low class (“Born down in a dead man's town”) to a war he had nothing to do with.

     This song is against hardships Vietnam veterans faced upon their return from the war. These one were treated with too few respect. Indeed, after the man’s come back he is “burning down the road”, which means he is wandering, because he has “nowhere to go”.

Thanks for reading! Do not hesitate to comment, react, or report me any errors.

See you tomorrow for the weekly news compilation!

Martin G.