10 Rock Songs That People Have Completely Misunderstood
9. Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA
As the first of two cleverly disguised war songs to feature on this playlist, ‘Born in the USA’ is believed to be a hugely patriotic, pro-American tune by many people. Unfortunately for them, this conclusion could not be any further from the truth.
Released as the title track for Springsteen’s seventh studio album in 1984, ‘Born in the USA’ was an instant hit across the majority of the western world, even topping the singles charts in Ireland and New Zealand. Critic reaction to the song was astounding, with journalists and columnists praising the song for upholding, representing and solidifying binary American values. The extent of the song’s seemingly heartstring tugging patriotic tones led to it being used in Presidential election rallies by a number of final candidates including Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Walter Mondale and most recently, Donald Trump.
Amazingly, the song isn’t patriotic at all. Springsteen said he was baffled by the reception considering the song is actually about an American soldier who feels alienated from society after returning from the Vietnam War. You would think this would be obvious with lines like ‘sent me off to a foreign land to go and kill the yellow man’ included, but clearly nothing sells like national pride.