The song Born in the USA was a 1984 rock song that many people believed that is projected the sense of American patriotism, but it was really used for Springsteen to criticise the structure of society, war and the treatment of the working class as well as a boy who is forced into war and returns to find that there is nothing left for him in this country.
“Sent me off to a foreign land/ To go and kill the yellow man”.
This is a clear reference to the Vietnam War. Often in war, the people lower within the class systems were forced to do the actual fighting because they had no other options. Especially in the Vietnam War when the draft was implemented, the rich were able to avoid it by going to school, but the poor didn't have those opportunities, thus going to war was there only choice.
When many veterans got back from the war, they weren’t treated with a lot of respect and had trouble getting their lives together.
“Down in the shadow of the penitentiary/Out by the gas fire of the refinery/ I’m ten years burning down the road/ Nowhere to run ain’t got nowhere to go”.
The only options for the speaker of this poem were to work the rest of his life at a meaningless refinery job or to go to jail. This song was a blatant critique of how we perceive war and the opportunities of America. The title serves as an ironic reminder that even in the supposed land of limitless opportunities not everyone who is born in the United States is given the same chance to succeed.
Lose yourself was one of the very few songs that not only was defining factor for an artist, but also for the rap genre as well as the decade as a whole. The track was released as a single from ‘8 Mile’ movie soundtrack which is ‘loosely’ based on Marshall Mathers’ real life.
The origin of the song is loosely based on Eminem’s life from growing up as a troubled kid to fighting underground rap battles and making it out of the shackles that restricted him from greatness.
“Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity, to seize everything to ever wanted in one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip?”
These few lines encapsulate the entire essence of the song. You are given those rare chances of opportunities in your life and you have to take them. The song also represents the idea of the American Dream, it portrays a cliché but intriguing aspect of the American identity - that of individuals going from rags to riches due to perseverance and a focus on reaching one’s dreams.
His main focus in the song is the idea of getting “one shot; one opportunity” to realize your dreams and making sure you give your all so that you don't waste it. The idea that you can achieve anything as you put your mind to it is clearly exemplified through Eminem as he spent his overcoming adversity to get to where he is today. However it's a delivers a rather mixed message as while it may be an inspirational concept as a whole, this particular song seems to focus on celebrity as the only means to achievement.
His main focus in the song is the idea of getting “one shot; one opportunity” to realize your dreams and making sure you give your all so that you don't waste it. The idea that you can achieve anything as you put your mind to it is clearly exemplified through Eminem as he spent his overcoming adversity to get to where he is today. However it's a delivers a rather mixed message as while it may be an inspirational concept as a whole, this particular song seems to focus on celebrity as the only means to achievement.
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