'Born in the U.S.A.' is an absolute classic that pretty much everyone is familiar with - but how much do you know about what it actually means?
It seems all too easy to belt out a song without really listening to the lyrics, because how often do you sit down and analyze a musician's work like you're in a poetry class?
Bruce Springsteen - nicknamed The Boss - has released many hits throughout his illustrious career, with 'Born in the U.S.A.' being one of the best-known.
It turns out that the song isn't as fun as most of us think - and the meaning behind it is actually pretty dark and hits home for many Americans.
If you listen closely, the song is about a Vietnam War veteran returning to the US, only to be met with limited options and a feeling that everyone is treating him like dirt.
A far cry from the patriotic tune that most people thought, right?
Verses four and five of the song really clarify the meaning, as they read: "I had a brother at Khe Sanh. Fighting off them 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."
Speaking to NPR, Music director Lauren Onkey explained that it took Springsteen himself a while to understand what he wanted to say in the song.
"He did a big benefit in the summer of '81 for Vietnam veterans in Los Angeles and met with vets," Onkey said. "After that tour ends, there's a number of places where he's trying to write about the Vietnam veteran experience, so the song grows out of that moment. And it starts out as something just called 'Vietnam.'"
Onkey explained that although the story follows one veteran, it displays the journey that many had when they returned from war.
In a 2005 interview, Springsteen explained why the chorus is so upbeat and easy to scream at the top of your lungs.
"The pride was in the chorus," he said. "In my songs, the spiritual part, the hope part, is in the choruses. The blues and your daily realities are in the details of the verses."
It seems like the true meaning of the song, which was putting the USA under a microscope, went over the heads of many, including President Ronald Reagan.
In a 1984 campaign speech, Reagan said: "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts. It rests in the message of hope in songs of a man so many young Americans admire, New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about."
So there we go, now you know what you're really singing about during Karaoke.
