Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A. Lyrics Meaning

“Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much”

The first stanza tells the story about a kid born in a little town, abused since a young age.

“Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man”

He gets drafted and sent to the Vietnam war

“Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man said ‘son if it was up to me’
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said ‘son, don't you understand’”

Post war he comes back, tries to apply for a job and doesn’t get it due to the public not supporting the war and thinking that the soldiers did horrible things

“I had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone”

His brother was killed in Vietnam, the Vietnamese are still there and his brother is dead (The war was pointless)

“He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now”

His brother had a family he left behind

“Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go”

He’s been sent to prison