Born in the USA

This week we are going to look at one of the most well known, and misunderstood, rock anthems of all time: Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA.”

The main purpose of this song was to relay the story of the mistreatment of Vietnam War veterans. And, while most people are aware of this to a degree, I’m going to talk a little more about it now.

Vietnam was a fundamentally unique war, different from any other fought in American
history. I’m not trying to get to in depth, but the main points essentially boil down do this: it was a messy and brutal war that caused America to question its own morals and beliefs like nothing before and perhaps nothing since. Countless Americans protested our involvement in Vietnam, something that had never happened before, and public opinion towards the war became overwhelmingly negative.

Unfortunately, the distaste and even hatred that many Americans felt for the war spread and affected their view of the soldiers who fought in it. They became scapegoats for everything American’s hated about Vietnam. The horrors of the war led may people to try and forget it as soon as possible so whereas previous wars had ended in many weeks worth of parades and celebrations for the returning soldiers, Vietnam veterans received no such welcome. They were quite implicitly asked to fade into the background and not talk about their involvement in the war.

There were many problems that Vietnam veterans faced after returning home, stemming from the public’s and the government’s urges to have everybody forget about the war. Veterans of Vietnam were in a tragically unique situation in which they returned from a war setting where they were under extreme levels of stress to a home environment where everyone acted as if the war didn’t exist. This dramatic shift did not lend itself well to the adjustment process necessary in order to reenter society. What’s worse was that when the many servicemen and women attempted to reenter society, they found that there were not many jobs available for them. America was on the verge of the great economic crisis of he 1970s, and the jobs that did exist required skills and schooling. In short, the veterans returned to a country that wanted them to lead normal lives, yet did not have the resources to make it possible.

This is the context for which Bruce Springsteen wrote “Born in the USA” in 1984. What’s especially interesting (at least to me) is that this is one of the most misunderstood songs of all time. Recently, this fact has been brought to light so, in fairness, it may not be as misunderstood as it once was.

I want to say that I do enjoy Bruce Springsteen’s music, however I will concede that he does shout a lot and he kind of slurs his words, so it can be hard to understand what he is saying. Perhaps this is why “Born in the USA” was misunderstood for so long. Everyone hears a lot of shouting and somewhat unintelligible vowels until suddenly the chorus comes and everyone can scream it out loud all patriotic like. As noted a lot in the news relatively recently, this song is go to favorite for political campaign rallies as a patriotic anthem; however, a brief look into the lyrics shows that this is so far from the truth. Springsteen sings about the experience of Vietnam veterans from a first person perspective, showing the overall neglect and mistreatment perpetrated by the public and the government, alike. While most people see the chorus as affirming America’s greatness in the face of hardships, it is actually meant to be an ironic contrast to that very point. He intended to show that people’s need to feel good about the country they live in has blinded them to what the reality is. This desire has allowed them to be manipulated into allowing the continued existence of injustice in their society.