Born down in a dead man's town
First kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Then you spend half your life trying to cover it up

Born in the U.S.A
Born in the U.S.A
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
Go and kill the yellow man

I was born in the U.S.A
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?"

Had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there and he's all gone
He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms
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

Born in the U.S.A
I was born in the U.S.A
Born in the U.S.A

Born in the U.S.A
Born in the U.S.A
I was born in the U.S.A
Born in the U.S.A