Iconic Bruce Springsteen hit Born in the USA CENSORED by major UK radio station over ‘offensive’ lyric
BRUCE Springsteen’s classic Born in the USA is being censored for radio — with a lyric about “the yellow man” removed.
The Boss, now 76, is widely considered to be calling out racism in his 1984 hit, covering the struggles of war vets returning from Vietnam.
He belts out: “So they put a rifle in my hands, sent me off to a foreign land, to go and kill the yellow man, Born in the USA.”
However Absolute Radio will mute the song as he utters “yellow man”, considered an offensive slur for an Asian person.
The track, hailed for its scathing commentary on the treatment of Vietnam vets and working-class Americans, is ranked 275th in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The Born in the USA album sold over 30 million copies worldwide and was the world’s best-selling record in 1985.
It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012 and includes other hits like Dancing in the Dark, Glory Days and I’m on Fire.
Bruce’s censorship comes after the Spice Girls’ 1997 track Spice Up Your Life — which includes the lyric “Yellow man in Timbuktu. Colour for both me and you” — was similarly altered last year on BBC Radio 2.
DJ Scott Mills played a version on his breakfast show which removed the word “yellow”.
Bauer Media, which owns Absolute Radio, declined to comment.