"Born in the USA"
Don't mess with the Vietnam generation
During a show in Manchester, England on May 14, 2025, Bruce Springsteen spoke out against Trump and called his administration "corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous". On successive nights.
Bruce Springsteen is a member of the Vietnam generation, those of us who lived through the years of that stupid, terrible war where several administrations lied to us about the reasons for and the conduct of it.
I protested so much during those years I had a group of signs in my closet, and I took them out depending on the march. Civil Rights, Vietnam, anti-nuclear. What a mess of a time.
I tell you one thing, though. It radicalized a lot of us in that era, and today we’re making new signs and getting into the streets. Three weeks ago I saw a sign at a local “Hands Off” demonstration carried by a woman my age. “I can’t believe I still have to protest this !@#$!”
There was no “fog of war” in the conduct of the Vietnam War as Robert McNamara tried to excuse his decisions. There was war for the sake of political gain at home. The war was proxy for “fighting Communism.” It was all propaganda.
The Vietnam War lasted 20 years (1955-1975) and there were 3,091,000 deaths. It was carnage. And that is not even to count the veterans who came home wounded in body, mind, and spirit.
Springsteen did not serve in Vietnam, though he was called up. He had suffered a concussion and was classified 4-F.
His music and activism, however, have been deeply intertwined with the experiences of the Vietnam generation and the issues they faced, particularly the treatment of veterans upon their return.
It is no surprise to me that Springsteen would call out this ghastly administration for its corruption, incompetence and treason.
“Born in the U.S.A.” is, in my view, an anthem of the Vietnam generation, and it fits so well with the full scale assault on the American worker as well as on our civil rights happening today.
It is worth reading the lyrics as the hard rocking version of 1984 can blur the searing message. So much so, in fact, that Ronald Reagan wanted to use it for his re-election campaign. Springsteen said no.
The song is about those who are sent to war as cannon fodder and their mistreatment after returning.
[Verse 1]
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
'Til you spend half your life just coverin' up, now
[Chorus]
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. now
[Verse 2]
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
[Chorus]
Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
[Verse 3]
Come back home to the refinery
Hirin' man says, “Son, if it was up to me”
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said, “Son, don't you understand,”
[Verse 4]
I had a brother at Khe Sanh
Fightin' off them 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
[Verse 5]
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burnin' down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go
[Chorus]
Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A. now
Born in the U.S.A
I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A. now
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. now
Now the song:
Cannes honoree Robert De Nero just said it: “Art is a threat to the autocrats and fascists of the world.”