In 1984 Bruce Springsteen’s vibrant musical masterpiece – the album Born in the U.S.A. – helped to reinforce his status as an American hero. It boasted a seemingly hugely patriotic title track and a cover that many mistakenly interpreted as an exercise in flag-waving patriotism.
Rather than tub-thumping about being an American, the US musician had decided he had to protest about what the then-US government under President Reagan was doing. Many listeners took the song’s chorus to be a celebration of being American – misinterpreting it as almost a musical love letter to the US – while missing the point that the track was a critical viewpoint of the then-US government. Reagan himself also missed the point and incorrectly thought the song was a ‘message of hope.’
However, Springsteen had written from a place of discontent. He was upset about the issues that the US’s Vietnam veterans encountered when they returned home after serving their country. Lyrics like ‘Got in