Campaigning for re-election in 1984, President Reagan said Springsteen's "Born in the USA," like his own Administration, was bringing "a message of hope" to America. A few days later Springsteen, introducing "Johnny 99" at a concert, speculated that the song, about an unemployed auto worker who commits a murder, was probably not one that the President had been listening to. Actually, the President probably had not been listening to "Born in the USA," the hopeful message of which is captured in such lyrics as:
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[Snip]
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?"[Snip]
I had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
I remembered the "Born in the USA" dust-up yesterday morning when, temporarily in control of the home's electronic devices, I was listening to disc 2 of "The Essential Springsteen," which includes "American Skin (41 Shots)," about Amadou Diallo, the 23-year-old Guinean immigrant who on February 4, 1999, was shot and killed by New York City plainclothes police after he reached for what turned out to be his wallet. The cops fired 41 shots and hit Diallo 19 times. When the song was released, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association called for a boycott of Springsteen shows, and the right-wing commentariat denounced Springsteen--the Nihilist in Golf Pants, for example, cited the song in a listing of "Top 11 Lyrics that Prove Bruce Springsteen is a Leftist Scumbag." Here is the song's lyric. The last stanza is a refrain sung between and after the other two.
41 shots, and we'll take that ride
'Cross this bloody river to the other side
41 shots, cut through the night
You're kneeling over his body in the vestibule
Praying for his life41 shots, Lena gets her son ready for school
She says "On these streets, Charles
You've got to understand the rules
If an officer stops you, promise me you'll always be polite
And that you'll never ever run away
Promise Mama you'll keep your hands in sight"Well, is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it a wallet, this is your life
It ain't no secret (it ain't no secret)
It ain't no secret (it ain't no secret)
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living in your American skin
The song lyric does not really present the interpreter with difficult hermeneutical issues. One stanza is from the perspective of the cops who, horrified by their mistake, kneel over the fallen Diallo and pray for his life. Another imagines the mother of a boy such as Diallo: understanding that her son could be killed in a similar incident, she counsels him on how he must behave around the police. The other stanza, a chorus, is in a communal voice of woe and suffering. The "American skin" of the title refers to Diallo, the cops, us all.
Bruce Springsteen, leftist scumbag!
John Hinderaker once weighed in on this topic in a post that I wish I could say exhibited an unusual degree of unhingedness. Richard Hofstadter did not foresee the portentous choices we would face while filling our iPods.
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