Many of the songs on Born in the U.S.A.-"My Hometown," "Glory Days," "Downbound Train," and "I'm Going Down," in addition to the title track-captured with great poignancy the misery of life in struggling small-town communities where the American Dream no longer seemed attainable.Ī record associated by many, or even most, listeners with simple flag-waving patriotism actually represented Springsteen's attempt to offer a moving and powerful critique of what he saw as the iniquities of American society in the 1980s.Think of how many successful revolutions in the past has succeeded until SB started.Īla Mhigo under the imperial control showed us how kinsmen turned against each other. And you see the Reagan election ads on TV-you know: 'It's morning in America.' And you say, 'Well, it's not morning in Pittsburgh.'" ( Source) But what's happening, I think, is that that need-which is a good thing-is gettin' manipulated and exploited. "I think people got a need to feel good about the country they live in. Springsteen later explained more directly his objections to his songs being heard as celebrations of Reagan-style nostalgic patriotism: "The president was mentioning my name the other day," Springsteen told the crowd, "and I kinda got to wondering what his favorite album must have been I don't think he's been listening to this one." ( Source) He then launched into "Johnny 99," a bleak song about an unemployed millworker who drunkenly shoots a night clerk and ends up sentenced to 99 years in jail. Springsteen rebuffed requests from the Reagan campaign to use "Born in the U.S.A." as its official theme song, and responded to Reagan's New Jersey speech with a special dedication at his next concert.
This was hardly the stuff of "Morning in America." I had a brother at Khe Sanh fighting off the Viet Cong Hiring man says, 'Son, if it was up to me.' 'Til you spend half your life just covering up now You end up like a dog that's been beat too much The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
It's hard to imagine Ronald Reagan appreciating the song's full lyrics (reproduced here without the famous chorus): Its patriotic chorus-the only lyrics most fans ever learned-stood as a bitterly ironic counterpoint to the song's verses, which told the heartbreaking story of a hopeless Vietnam vet. Those who sought to cast Bruce Springsteen in the role of Ronald Reagan in tight blue jeans and a leather jacket only missed one small thing: "Born in the U.S.A." was a protest record. It rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen." ( Source) (3) And the president himself even got into the act, declaring on a campaign visit to Springsteen's home state that "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside our hearts. (2) Conservative columnist George Will approvingly noted that in Springsteen's songs-as in Reagan's speeches-"the recitation of closed factories and other problems always seems punctuated by a grand, cheerful affirmation: 'Born in the U.S.A.'" ( Source) (1) Larry Berger, the program director of a major New York radio station called Springsteen "a spokesman for patriotism the Ronald Reagan of rock 'n' roll" ( source). Many listeners heard in the music a rock and roll echo of Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America." The title track, in particular, seemed to capture the nationalistic spirit of the moment in its anthemic chorus-"Born in the U.S.A.! / I was born in the U.S.A.!"-and in the star-spangled imagery of its cover art.
Seven of the album's twelve tracks eventually became top 10 singles. Released a month before the Olympics convened in Los Angeles, California, the record soon became an unavoidable presence on American radio. The red, white, and blue summer of 1984 found its perfect soundtrack in Born in the U.S.A., a chart-topping new album from Bruce Springsteen. Meaning Red, White, and Blue, or Red, White, and Boo?