36 Years Later The Lyrics of Born In The USA By Bruce Springsteen Still Have Meaning & Tie Into Our Political Landscape!

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By Ron Signore

So many thoughts crossed my mind this past weekend when I was trying to decide what to write about for this upcoming week. Some may still come to fruition in succeeding articles. One of those topics from the weekend was based around American Music. Not Starts and Stripes Forever or Over There, but really along the lines of what we have seen illustrated by the words (mentally of course) of those who have gotten their message out there. Heck, one of the ideas was simply to breakdown a playlist of such tunes. That still may just happen. The more I came back to that concept, the more I got thrown to the misguided vision people have of our country.

America really is the greatest country in the world. When we sit back and really think about it, we have a great country that has a lot of bad things tainting the history of this fine land. We have bad things happening every day. Bad people leading our nation. Now more than ever, with the challenge of progression and the immediate access to news from media outlets, we see the bad far more magnified than it really is. To clarify, I am speaking of a statistically low rate of negative incident compared to the population and time. In no way is my intent to diminish the true effect of racism or police brutality or the pandemic if we look at certain events more closely. The effect of these current issues is just a portion of the stains this country has apparent, but they are extremely relevant right now. Human rights are a struggle here but are progressing. After all that, we have the freedoms to exercise our rights to our opinions, popular or not.

That comes full circle to the music. Music is what fills many of us. The beats of the rhythm, the melodies and the lyrics can help drive thoughts. It can help illustrate a path to understanding. It can unite the farthest MAGA supporter with the person who is so far left that they have no idea what is going on in the world because they are at peace living amongst the trees. While it can also have the exact opposite effect, the first scenario is far more my experience. Those conversations about songs, albums, or the unity of a live concert event can make each person forget the bad, find common ground and enjoy life, even if it is just for a few minutes.

-As a side note, I always found it odd from the negative side when people criticize a band, bandmember or any celebrity profile for that matter, on their politics. Sticking with musicians, you either like their sound, believe they are talented, or they stand up for what you commonly believe in. To sit there as a keyboard warrior and trash a band you love to listen to because of their politics does not make sense to me. The most common example I am seeing of that on Twitter or Facebook is around Stefan Lessard of the Dave Matthews Band. Constantly, “fans” attack political beliefs or dismiss the thoughts of Lessard. Lessard started doing something outstanding with this negative action: he started making contributions to political campaigns of focus races in the name of the offender. Bravo!-

There is also the misguided fool who takes a song and rants and raves about it, bragging of its patriotic meaning to our country. It is a symbol of American Pride. While those points may certainly be true, they would not be for the reasons believed by the misguided fool in this example. Bruce Springsteen, that special case involving a twinge of fraud I have referenced before, is that Patriot. His music has often hit on the values and realization to blue collar, middle class America. Examples can be exemplified by songs like The River or Glory Days. Arguably, however, the most prime example of misguiding music is his hit song, Born in the USA.

When the song was released, the reception of Springsteen’s fans, new and old, took the song as boasted of its demonstration of being patriotic. They heard the statement of the chorus, the emphatic “BORN IN THE U S A…” They did not hear the song. They did not hear the message the lyrics were generating. I do need to take a step back and recognize the power Springsteen has with his music, but this song in particular brought out even the most ignorant right wingers and had them proud beyond belief at how great the country was. That speaks volumes of Springsteen’s talent.

The song really depicts struggles faced by those loyal American’s who served their country, made sacrifices by choice or (draft) order in the Vietnam quagmire. The illustration of a country who has moved on thanklessly from returning vets with a lack of jobs due to a poor economy, the prejudicial mistreatment we visually can see from a movie like Rambo. The country was cruel towards the return of the soldiers in Vietnam. It was nothing like glory and praise received after the return home of WWII soldiers, or the support our soldiers get present day.

In a war we arguably never should have been in, we sent our youth to a country across the world to die in the jungles of Vietnam. We did it the nationalist way. We filled their soldier’s heads with the systemic racism we argue about today. “…Put a rifle in my hand…to go and kill the yellow man.”

The opening lyrics to the song in 1984 were probably not meant to be depicted the way I am about to correlate to recent times of 2020, but, “you end up like a dog that’s been beat too much, ‘til you spend half your life just coverin’ up.” The story of just an average homelife for an abused child and the path it set his life to would be the most logical reflection of the account and times of the song release. But I would argue they are so very relevant today not only in the same nature, but in reflection to the systemic racism in America. Before you say “pff, that’s a stretch,” the ignorance towards the racism by much of the nation had drawn almost a dormant numbness to the topic.

Not everything in every instance is about race. I am not that ignorant. I am also not naïve enough to ignore the instances of true racism. I do believe some of Dr. King’s dream came true in many instances. I believe there are people of all skin colors and religions that are judged by the content of their character or the qualifications to attain a desired outcome. However, as a country, we have allowed the oppression, both intentionally and unintentionally, of the African American to the point where we have found so many ways to turn our heads, ignore or cover up the events. Like that “dog that’s been beat too much,” this allowed for a pent-up anger just waiting to explode and the fighting determination to make going to war possible. Unfortunately, that war is in our city’s streets right now.

Then there are ties to the song that really could take aim at the current state of the economy. The ungrateful Moscow Agent Governing America has waged war against his country’s citizens both in the social injustice topic, but also arguably with his ineptitude of handling the pandemic. We have people out of work at a high rate. “Come back home to the refinery, hiring man says, “son if it was up to me.” After these battles in our own country, the companies that should be growing and benefiting from the right wing popular “trickle down economics,” are not hiring, but also furloughing and eliminating jobs. Where does this leave new graduates or experienced professionals in need of supporting a household but a struggle. It makes the poor poorer. It keeps those in poverty living in high crime rate areas in higher risk of danger.

“Went down to see the V.A. man, he said, “Son, don’t you understand,” aligns with the isolation many American citizens are feeling right now from their government. The V.A. man is the department of Veteran Affairs, which holds a tie to those leaving military life still. However, the correlation with the government to the everyday citizen is with the unemployment office. There is only so much, if anything, they can do for relief. That isolation leads all affected lost and question what makes sense in life. Either way, it shows the foundation we were built on, be it the soldiers for our freedoms or the blue collar middle class American, the government just shrugs it shoulders and moves on with whatever agenda, or lack thereof, they have in store.

Though the misguided boasts “BORN IN THE USA,” with a sense of pride to being born in the greatest country in the world, his vision of patriotism lies only in the nationalist image the right wing war mongered leadership created. They fail to realize that the patriotism Springsteen depicts is to the foundation of this country that makes the wheels go rough: the citizens, and mainly its working-class citizens, and its soldiers who sacrifice for our freedoms. He exercises those freedoms patriotically by illustrating the wrongs those who govern us demonstrate. The ungrateful nature of the rich and powerful using the other 99% as pawns in some sort of game to keep their status. The perception of perfection. Though the times may keep us in a certain isolation, and nothing makes sense, we were born in the USA, and we will find a way.

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