The true story of ‘Born in the USA’ in ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere’
‘Born in the USA’ was left off Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’ album but still appears in ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere.’ There’s a reason for that.
Jeremy Allen White stars in ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’
“The Bear” star Jeremy Allen White explores the creation of Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska” album in biopic “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.”
- Bruce Springsteen movie “Deliver Me From Nowhere” opens in theaters Friday, Oct. 24.
- The movie focuses on the making of Springsteen’s introspective album “Nebraska.”
- Fans will be thrilled by a faithfully recreated scene that captures the electrifying recording session for “Born in the U.S.A.”
Spoiler alert! We’re breaking down a key scene from the Bruce Springsteen biopic “Deliver Me From Nowhere” (in theaters now).
ASBURY PARK, N.J. − One of Bruce Springsteen’s most iconic songs almost sounded extremely different.
“Deliver Me From Nowhere” traces the son of New Jersey (played by Jeremy Allen White) as he creates the most introspective album of his career, 1982’s “Nebraska.” But the new movie also mines the origin story of “Born in the U.S.A.,” a deceptively joyous, widely misinterpreted anthem about a Vietnam War veteran returning home to financial hardship and neglect.
In 1981, writer and director Paul Schrader approached the Boss about writing the title track for his music drama “Light of Day,” which was originally titled “Born in the U.S.A.” Springsteen declined to participate in the film, but still decided to use that title for a song he had been writing about a disillusioned vet.
He recorded a solo acoustic demo of the track at his home in New Jersey, but the song was shelved after co-producer Jon Landau suggested that it didn’t gel melodically with the rest of his “Nebraska” album. (He eventually released the demo on his 1998 compilation album “Tracks.”)
What is the true story behind Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born in the USA?’
Months later, “Born in the U.S.A.” roared back from the dead during an electrifying, impromptu recording session at New York’s Power Station studios in April 1982. As seen in the film, Springsteen and Landau (played by Jeremy Strong) were walking through Midtown Manhattan late one night, feeling nostalgic for a younger, simpler time before the fame.
On a whim, they went upstairs to Power Station and commiserated with the E Street Band, who had already been helping Springsteen re-record his “Nebraska” demos as full-band versions to no avail. That night, they decided to take a crack at “Born in the U.S.A.”
“That’s exactly how it happened,” filmmaker Scott Cooper says. “What Bruce would do is he’d record things himself and then take them to the E Street Band, and have them bring these songs to life in a very rock way. ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ is no different. Bruce said to me it’s the only time in 50 years that they felt like, ‘My God, we just caught lightning in a bottle.’ ”
The scene in the movie was filmed in the exact same room at Power Station, and Cooper called on Springsteen to help reconstruct the session to a tee. He asked Springsteen where he was standing that day and how all the musicians were placed in the studio.
“That’s what’s great about having access to Bruce, because I recreated it in the very room with the same lighting, the same instrumentation, everything,” Cooper says. “You could feel the ghosts. I mean, I got a chill up my spine when Jeremy Allen White delivered that searing, incredibly powerful and honest rendition of ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ ”
Why was the song included in new movie ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere?’
Although Springsteen was excited by the result, he held off on releasing the song as he focused on finishing “Nebraska.” “Born in the U.S.A.” was eventually included on his 1984 album of the same name, and the heartland stomper hit No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Feeling bad for stealing Schrader’s song title, he also did write a new title track for “Light of Day,” which was recorded by stars Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett.
“Deliver Me From Nowhere” follows the emotional journey of “Nebraska,” but Cooper ultimately thought “Born in the U.S.A.” was integral to the biopic. At the time, Springsteen was grappling with whether he should make “Nebraska” a double album.
“He was like, do I include ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ on that as an acoustic (track), which he now says he wishes that he had?” Cooper says. “Even though Jon Landau and everybody who heard it thought this is going to be an iconic song, Bruce said, ‘No, we’re not releasing that. We’re putting that on the shelf and releasing “Nebraska,” which is an incredibly personal and intimate record.’
“That speaks not only to Bruce’s creative risk, but commercial risk and the courage to stick to his convictions.”
