Born in the U.S.A.

During my junior year of high school, our AP English teacher had us read “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. One day in class he played us a clip of just the audio from “Born in the U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen and had us describe our feelings. We spoke about feeling patriotic and proud because of the powerful music that was reminiscent of other patriotic songs. He very rudely awoke us from this discussion by reading the lyrics. Quickly, we began to describe how the lyrics, to us, did not match the music. Springsteen actually describes very negative aspects of a Vietnam veteran’s (fictitious or not, we do not know) life, before and after the war.

Springsteen creates an emotional appeal to the listener just from the music itself, which is very powerful. But this is juxtaposed against the lyrics which paint a very different picture. This juxtaposition allows the listener to garner different meanings of the chorus, “Born in the U.S.A.” I feel that Springsteen is trying to demonstrate the irony behind the hero’s welcome given to veterans of other wars, but the hatred given to Vietnam veterans. The lyrics and music together create an interesting dichotomy between patriotism and the actual realities faced by those who fight those battles.