Born In The USA: Our Most Misappropriated Patriotic Song?

“America’s future rests in a thousand dreams inside our hearts,” Ronald Reagan said. “It rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire: New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen.”

Born in the USAMany people my age know this, but for the younger crowd: Ronald Reagan, during his 1984 re-election campaign, tried to coast a little on the surging popularity of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” (off the album of the same name). “America’s future rests in a thousand dreams inside our hearts,” Reagan said at a stump speech in Hammonton, New Jersey. “It rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire: New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen.”

Reagan did not quote “Born in the U.S.A.” by name, but you couldn’t turn on a radio without hearing that song in 1984. It’s clear that’s the one he meant. Springsteen, always a populist and usually to the left, took some umbrage at being associated with Reagan. “You see in the Reagan election ads on TV, you know, ‘It’s morning in America,'” he told Rolling Stone. “Well, it’s not morning in Pittsburgh.” Take that, Iron City.

So to whom do we owe Reagan’s gaffe? I hesitate to lay a PR blunder at the feet of one man alone, but I have to blame George F. Will.

In a September 13, 1984 column for the Washington Post, Will described seeing Springsteen live in concert, as a guest of drummer Max Weinberg. Will barely waits two paragraphs before stumbling into the first of a string of laughable analogs and interpretations.

There is not a smidgen of androgyny in Springsteen, who, rocketing around the stage in a T-shirt and headband, resembles Robert DeNiro in the combat scenes of “The Deerhunter.” This is rock for the United Steelworkers, accompanied by the opening barrage the battle of the Somme. The saintly Rebecca [Weinberg] met me with a small pouch of cotton — for my ears, she explained. She thinks I am a poor specimen, I thought. I made it three beats into the first number before packing my ears.

In the eyes of George F. Will circa 1984, American masculinity is under attack from prancing androgynes who play music at reasonable volumes (take that, Psychedelic Furs!). To this injury, the loud, T-shirted Springsteen is a life-saving elixir.

And, in a column about good ol’ fashioned American values, Will thinks it apropos to invoke both The Deer Hunter and a World War I battle in which the U.S. did not participate.

Later:

I have not got a clue about Springsteen’s politics, if any, but flags get waved at his concerts while he sings songs about hard times. He is no whiner, and the recitation of closed factories and other problems always seems punctuated by a grand, cheerful affirmation: “Born in the U.S.A.!”

Will might not have had a clue about Springsteen’s politics, but a casual listen to the lyrics of the song he quotes in that paragraph might have helped:

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
‘Til you spend half your life just covering up

And that is, of course, the first verse. Perhaps Will used too much cotton.

If all Americans — in labor and management, who make steel or cars or shoes or textiles — made their products with as much energy and confidence as Springsteen and his merry band make music, there would be no need for Congress to be thinking about protectionism. No “domestic content” legislation is needed in the music industry. The British and other invasions have been met and matched.

So the recession of the early ’80s, in Will’s eyes, comes from a failing of will – the lack of “energy and confidence” from S&L managers, or air traffic controllers, or auto manufacturers (take that, labor unions!). We at OTI try to stay free of politics, but we offer that final observation up without comment.

So George F. Will, not understanding Springsteen’s rhetoric, misrepresented the man in a Washington Post column. So what?

So: George F. Will was friends with Michael Deaver, deputy Chief of Staff to Reagan and a longtime advisor. Will mentioned Springsteen to Deaver. Deaver mentioned it to Reagan’s speechwriters. And thus the blunder struck.

All of the above counts as trivia today: Reagan won the 1984 election by the greatest electoral landslide since, well, his 1980 election. So misappropriating Springsteen with less than a month to go didn’t kill him. But such a perfect storm of ironic misinterpretation and high-profile politicking could only be born in the U.S.A.

(Oh, who am I kidding? It could happen just as easily in Iran.)

5 Comments on “Born In The USA: Our Most Misappropriated Patriotic Song?”

  1. Rob #

    if there’s one thing george will is good at, it’s getting things horribly, horribly wrong. see “climate change, anthropogenic” and “iraq, war in”.
    i mean, it’s pretty clear that springsteen isn’t speaking favorably about the way his government treats us:

    “I got in a little hometown jam
    And so they put a rifle in my hands
    Sent me off to Vietnam
    To go and kill the yellow man”

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

    … but then, george will actually thinks that sending young poor americans off to die (and kill) in foreign wars for imperialism’s sake is a good thing.

    sorry’ bout that. y’all staffers try to stay away from politics, but we commenters are under no such obligation. =)

    Reply

  2. Darin #

    My friend lived in Tokyo in 1984, he threw Born in the USA LPs over the wall from the American Club to the Russian Embassy. He knew the words of the song. Either he was sending pro-American propaganda that would be misunderstood (funny) and anti-American policy that was critical (ironic).

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  3. Gab #

    I find it amusing that there is a huge banner for “Anne Coulter- FREE” above the comments.

    My theme song when I run for office some day? “Fortunate Son” by CCR. F*** yeah.

    Ahem.

    Alas, I wasn’t born yet when this happened, but was Reagan ever really “called on it” by the public? I remember the Clinton and Kerry campaigns and the media giving them both crap for their songs (“Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac and “Beautiful Day” by U2, respectively), trying to make them seem inappropriate or laughable selections. And I know McCain had a *lot* of trouble finding a theme song because nobody really wanted him to use their music (he had to take a chance on ABBA). Is this just a trend? I see two results: either the artist doesn’t want it to be used, or the media makes fun of its use.

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  4. M. Witty #

    Maybe this is too harsh, but it’s funny that Will credits Bruce with being devoid of even a smidgen of androgyny by comparing him to Robert DeNiro’s character in The Deerhunter — a character who is very probably homosexual.

    Also, Bruce is clearly peeing on the American flag on that album cover.

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