[Verse 1]
Born down in a dead man's town
First kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Spend half your life just coverin' up

[Verse 2]
I 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

[Chorus]
I was born in the U.S. 
Born in the U.S. 
Born in the U.S.A. 

[Verse 3]
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says, "Son, if it was up to me"
I went down to see my V.A. man
He said, "Son, don't you understand?"

[Chorus]
Born in the U.S. 
Born in the U.S. 
Born in the U.S.A. 
[Verse 4]
I had a brother at Khe Sanh
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He loved a woman back in Saigon
Got a picture of him in her arms

[Verse 5]
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
Ten years burning down that road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go

[Chorus]
I was born in the U.S. 
Born in the U.S. 
Born in the U.S.A. 
I was born in the U.S. 
Born in the U.S. 
Born in the U.S.A.