We Take Care of Our Own

via Backstreets:

Of course, perhaps even more than with "Born in the U.S.A.," even half-listening to the verses brings the awareness that the chorus is not as rah-rah as it sounds. This is a song of searching, and not finding — searching for mercy, for love, for work, for spirit, for the American promise, and, recalling "Long Walk Home" from 2007's Magic, for "the map that leads me home." The few concrete nouns point to the Hurricane Katrina tragedy as Bruce's prime example to put the chorus in perspective, "from the shotgun shack to the Superdome." Following the line "There ain't no help, the cavalry stayed home," the "We take care of our own" chorus can be heard as cuttingly ironic: we don't.