Suffering Springsteen

Chris Sheil, who recently opined that someone named Ryan Adams is the legitimate heir to Dylan and Springsteen, won’t be pleased to hear this.

Erratum
(Chris points out that he was merely passing on the views of others – and is, quite possibly, as vague as I am on the oeuvre of Ryan Adams.) Now read on.

Ex Guantanamo Bay resident, Hamed Abderrahman Ahmad – a Spaniard who denies any links with terrorism – said he had to wrap his head in a damp towel to try to muffle loud tapes of Bruce Springsteen’s anthemic hit, “Born in the USA.”

“All day they blared patriotic American music. It was Born in the USA. We had to put wet towels on our heads to be able to bear the heat and not hear the music . . . ”

I guess we can excuse language difficulties and the less than conducive environmental factors that might have prevented Hamed from a full evaluation of the lyric content involved in his cruel and unusual punishment; but for his captors it merely provides yet more evidence that Americans, in general, possess a terminal lack of irony.

“Born in the USA” is anything but a patriotic song. It speaks of a Vietnam Vet’s enduring anger about being used falsely and then dumped by his government. Springsteen himself was moved to point this out to Ronald Reagan back in the 80’s when that less than razorsharp gent seemed to be labouring under the delusion that Springsteen had written it for him, as his campaign tune.

You’d wonder why the Gitmo boys looked past the terrifying “Royal Telephone”

“Telephone to glory, O what joy divine!
I can feel the current moving on the line,
Built by God the Father for His loved and own,
We may talk to Jesus thru this royal telephone!”

or “Harper Valley PTA” – though deploying the latter would unarguably be a War Crime.

Here are the lyrics of “Born in the USA” for those who’d like to make their own assessment:

“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.
I was 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
To go and kill the yellow man

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

Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I’m a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I’m a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.”