MatR: Steve Earle and Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Come Lately

The first time I heard Steve Earle’s “Johnny Come Lately,” I thought to myself: this sounds like a companion piece to “Born in the U.S.A.”

Thematically, the two songs are very similar: both are told from the point of view of an American soldier returning home from Vietnam to a very different reception than the one afforded to the veterans of previous wars.

Lyrically, there are are some stark similarities as well–especially Earle’s very first lines:

I’m an American, boys, and I’ve come a long way
Born and bred in the USA

But Earle’s song is slyer than Bruce’s–most of the song details the heroic exploits and triumphant return of a World War II veteran, but at the very last verse we discover that the narrator has actually just been retelling his grandfather’s song in order to contrast it with his own.

Now my grandaddy sang this song
Told me about London when the Blitz was on
How he married grandma and brought her back home
A hero throughout his land

Now I’m standing on a runway in San Diego
A couple Purple Hearts and I move a little slow
There’s nobody here, maybe nobody knows
About a place called Vietnam

It’s a gut punch, and just like with “Born in the U.S.A.,” you have to listen carefully to the lyrics to feel it, or else you’ll be carried along by the rollicking backing track without realizing what just happened.

So it’s fitting that when Bruce joined Steve Earle and The Dukes on stage at Tradewinds in Sea Bright, New Jersey in early 1998, they chose to close the show with “Johnny Come Lately.”

Take a listen to it below–to date, it’s the only known time Bruce has performed the song.

Johnny Come Lately
First performed: February 6, 1998 (Sea Bright, NJ)
Last performed: February 6, 1998 (Sea Bright, NJ)