When a radio station says to itself, "Self, it is time to play patriotic, pro-America music," what is the first song that it pulls out of its metaphoric CD rack? Of course, "Born in the USA," because, "BORN IN THE USA! I WAS BORN IN THE USA! I'M A COOL ROCKIN' DADDY IN THE USA!" And no one cares about the verses because, well, it's Bruce, and Bruce has the diction of Bob Dylan. To some of you this will not be new, but here are the non-"Born in the USA" lyrics to "Born in the USA":
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
...
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
...
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says, "Son if it was up to me."
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said, "Son, don't you understand now."
Had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the 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 ten years burning down the road
Now here to run ain't got nowhere to go
Oh, yeah. Real patriotic. That said, it's a much better song than any patriotic ditty that they could call up, particularly "God Bless the USA" by the bankrupt man's John Denver, Lee Greenwood:
From the lakes of Minnesota
To the hills of Tennessee
Across the plains of Texas
From sea to shining sea
From Detroit down to Houston
And New York to L.A.
There's pride in every [yes, every single one] American heart
And it's time we stand and say
I am sure I have ticked off someone with my dissin' of "God Bless the USA," but I do not yet know whom. It will be interesting to find out.
oh so lovingly written by
Matthew |
i sincerely do not know what you are doing here. are you lost? were you
looking for your delicate calico cat, and did you follow her up two flights of stairs
to this room? she is not here. she was here, yes. we gave her a warm bowl of milk, we talked with her about campaign finance reform for a time, and then she bid us good day. i believe she was
going to the post office two blocks down, but i don't quite recall.
for surely you did
not find your way from prinsiana, the least traveled site on
the internet. if you did, though, perhaps you are looking for humor. perhaps you are looking for profundity. perhaps you are looking for answers.
i'm sorry, but you shall go naught-for-three.
