9 Popular Songs With Disturbing Implications You Never Noticed

8. "Born In The USA" Is About The Horrors Of War

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZD4ezDbbu4

Though many consider this song to be one of the more patriotic numbers released by Bruce Springsteen, it's actually extremely critical of America, and specifically the American military. But then it is easy to mistake the chorus as a rousing, fist-pumping celebration of the country:

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.

And that's exactly what happened when the song was first released. The very fact that such a bleak song was a huge radio hit attests the fact, but things got worse when conservative columnist George Will wrote a piece on how great an affirmation the song was about the good things in America. Not only that, but Wills' esteemed friend, US President Ronald Reagan, actually referenced Springsteen and the song while carrying out his re-election campaign, talking about how it represented American hope. A closer listen, however, reveals some fairly disturbing truths. The lyrics detail a veteran's return from the Vietnam War, so scarred he's unable to readjust to ordinary civilian life. The song criticizes the American military's simplistic agenda:

Got in a little home town jam so they put a rifle in my hand Sent me off to a foreign land to go and kill the yellow man

And the singer's inability to get a job:

Come back home to the refinery Hiring man says "son if it was up to me"

Even after ten years, the singer's life remains ruined:

I'm ten years burning down the road Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go

Land of the Free indeed.