Live 11 Nov 2014 version
[Spoken intro:] Wrote this thirty years ago. I think it still holds.
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
Till you spend half your life just covering up
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hands
They sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says, "Son if it was up to me"
I went down to see my V.A. man
He said, "Son, don't you understand"
I had a brother at Khe Sahn fighting off them Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm forty years burning down the road
Burning down, I'm burning down, I'm burning down
I got nowhere to run, I got nowhere to go
Nowhere to go, nowhere to go
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
The above lyrics are for the live 11 Nov 2014 performance of BORN IN THE U.S.A. at National Mall in Washington, DC, during The Concert For Valor. The song was performed solo on 12-string acoustic guitar and harmonica.
The Concert for Valor was a Veterans Day concert put together by HBO, Chase, and Starbucks. Performers included Bruce Springsteen, The Black Keys, Rihanna, Eminem, Zac Brown Band, Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood, Metallica, Dave Grohl, and Jessie J. The show featured onstage hosts Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, Jamie Foxx, George Lopez, John Oliver, and Bob Woodruff. There were special tributes by Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, and Reese Witherspoon. The concert was broadcast live on HBO and streamed over the internet.
Bruce Springsteen first took the stage at the end of Zag Brown Band's three-song set when he and Dave Grohl joined them on cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's FORTUNATE SON. Later in the evening Springsteen performed a three-song solo acoustic set of his own.
List of available versions of BORN IN THE U.S.A. on this website:
BORN IN THE U.S.A. [Album version]