“We did it off the cuff”: The Bruce Springsteen classic he never taught the E Street Band
Bruce Springsteen is the sort of songwriter whose ability to tap into the human experience hints towards a studied sense of observation. His storytelling is an intricate tapestry of life, weaving first-person narratives with more universal themes to speak to the lives of people beyond his native New Jersey.
While it seems a somewhat rudimentary skill for a musician, Springsteen’s execution is on a higher level, to the point where maybe what I interpret as a studiously crafted skill is, in fact, innate talent.
And so, with the title of one of his most seminal tracks being ‘Born In The USA’ and marketing it as an all-American, ripped denim shirt of a track that fits the soundtrack of open-road Harley driving, you would be forgiven for thinking this was one of the swifter songs to come out of the studio. Relatively speaking, you would be right; the underlying sentiment of the song, combined with its recording ease, only adds to the wider conversation of his greatness as an artist.
“We just kinda did it off the cuff,” Springsteen said, when recalling the studio session that created his calling card song. “I never taught it to the band. I went in and said, ‘Roy, get this riff.’ And he just pulled out that sound, played the riff on the synthesiser. We played it two times, and our second take is on the record. That’s why the guys are really on the edge. . . . To me, [Max Weinberg] was right up there with the best of them on that song. There was no arrangement. I said, ‘When I stop, keep the drums going.’ That thing in the end with all the drums, that just kinda happened.”
But make no mistake—the ease of its genesis is simply not in keeping with its storytelling depth. In addition to Springsteen’s more futuristic and electronic soundscape, he looked to the decade past to provide a cutting critique of American capitalism and its foreign policy.
Springsteen’s song follows a soldier who comes home from war and their struggles to readjust to normal life. It tells the tale of a disillusioned young man whose fight for the country he represents has left him isolated and abandoned on its very shores. Caught between a rock and a hard place, fighting in a war he had no intentions of doing so and then being spat on by activists who think he did, it illuminated the characters the so-called land of freedom seemingly forgot.
But it’s very patriotic sonic disposition adds to the acute irony of this song and the stunning execution of Springsteen’s political songwriting. It’s the drum section Springsteen lauds, that curtails the song, and it is the soaring synthesiser upon which they built the main riff.
Those nuts and bolts sonic elements provide the added punch of irony to the song, for without understanding what Springsteen is singing about, you could mistake it for a celebration of the all-American barbecue. While it may have been a simply executed soundscape for Springsteen and his band, the profound impact was anything but.
