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
Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
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 said "Son if it was up to me"
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said "Son, don"t you understand"
I 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
Nowhere to run ain"t got nowhere to go
I"m a lo
