Bruce Springsteen

Released: November 21, 1985

Songwriter: Bruce Springsteen

Producer: Little Steven Bruce Springsteen Chuck Plotkin Jon Landau

[Verse 1]
I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man
I'd sit on his lap in that big old Buick
And steer as we drove through town
He'd tousle my hair and say "Son, take a good look around
This is your hometown"

[Chorus]
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown

[Verse 2]
In '65 tension was running high at my high school
There was a lot of fights 'tween the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a Saturday night
In the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed, a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come to my hometown

[Chorus]
To my hometown
To my hometown
To my hometown

[Bridge]
Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says "These jobs are going, boys
And they ain't coming back
To your hometown"

[Chorus]
To your hometown
To your hometown
To your hometown

[Verse 3]
Last night me and Kate, we laid in bed
Talking about getting out
Packing up our bags, maybe heading south
I'm thirty-five, we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said
"Son take a good look around
This is your hometown"

Bruce Springsteen is a rock ‘n’ roll icon from the great state of New Jersey. Nicknamed “The Boss,” he’s known for spirited sax-powered anthems about working-class people making their way in the world. Backed by the trusty E Street Band, he’s sold more than 120 million records, won numerous awards (including 20 Grammys and an Oscar), sold out stadiums around the globe, and earned a place alongside his teenage heroes in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Although he’s a living legend who ranks among the most important artists in rock history, Springsteen wasn’t an overnight success. Around the time of his first album, 1973’s Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., he was dismissed as just another “new Dylan"—some scruffy folk singer with a decent vocabulary looking to follow in Bob’s footsteps. In the decade that followed, Springsteen proved himself to be much more.

His breakthrough came with his third album, 1975’s Born to Run. The record hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and landed the singer-songwriter on the cover of both Time and Newsweek. Bruce nabbed his first chart-topping album five years later with The River, and in 1984, he went global with Born in the U.S.A., a critical and commercial smash that produced seven Top 10 singles.

more tracks from the album

Born in the U.S.A.

From the albums

Born in the U.S.A. (1984)
Greatest Hits (1995) (1995)

Bruce Springsteen popular songs

My HometownBruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Born in the U.S.A.