WCSX Classic Cuts : Born in the U.S.A.
WCSX Classic Cuts
Bruce Springsteen: “Born in the U.S.A.”
The Hook: Hearing it always made the late Clarence Clemons think of the reaction the E Street Band got performing it behind the Iron Curtain on the Amnesty International tour — before the Berlin Wall came down.
Album: Born in the USA
Year: 1984
Writer: Bruce Springsteen
Stats: Peaked at number-nine on the Billboard Hot 100.
Background: Back in 1995, we asked the late E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons about the first thing that comes into his mind when he hears “Born in the U.S.A.” We were kind of expecting him to talk about how President Ronald Reagan had misunderstood the intent of the song’s lyrics, and he eventually mentioned it, but here’s what he said he always thought about even before the Reagan incident.
In a 1995 interview, the late E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons on the first think he thinks of when he hears ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ OC:…ever seen. :28
“Every time I hear that song I think of being, before the wall came down, in Germany. We were in East Germany, behind the Iron Curtain, playing ‘Born in the U.S.A,’ praying to God I don’t get shot. [Laughs] We were on the Amnesty International Tour and that was, like, so funny. I mean, to see these kids – maybe 110,000 kids – standing in mud up to their ankles with their right arms up in the air screaming ‘Born in the U.S.A,’ you know, it was the most touching thing I’d ever seen.”
