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 'Til you spend half your life just covering up 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 hands Sent me off to a foreign land To go and kill the yellow man 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, no? I had a brother at Khe Sanh fighting off the Viet Cong They're still there, he's all gone, gone He had a woman he loved in Saigon I got a picture of him in her arms, in her arms Down in the shadow of the penitentiary Out by the gas fires of the refineries I'm 40 years burnin' down the road, the road, the road The road, the road, the road, the road, the road, the road I've got nowhere to run I've got nowhere to go I'm a long gone daddy in the U.S.A I'm a cool, cool rocking daddy in the U.S.A