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 USA
I was born in the USA
I was born in the USA
Born in the USA

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

Born in the USA
I was born in the USA
I was born in the USA
Born in the USA

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says: Son, if it was up to me
Went down to see my VA 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

Born in the USA
I was born in the USA, now
Born in the USA
I'm long gone daddy in the USA, now

Born in the USA
Born in the USA
Born in the USA
I'm a cool rocking daddy in the USA, now