a verse from "Born in the USA"

[Lost_Soul]

Hi,

What can you make of this verse from the famous song "born in the USA":
(I can't seem to make head or tail of it, could you tell me at least what it is vaguely about?)
The synopsis of the song is that a guy came home from the Vietnam war and tried to rehabilitate himself.

[Jamie (K)]

I suppose "gas fires" are those flames you see coming out of some pipes that stick up at refineries. They must be burning off gas for some reason.

As for the other line, keep in mind that Bruce Springsteen's songs don't always make literal sense and just have to be felt.

When they do make sense, it often requires a three-page cultural treatise to explain them to someone who isn't American.

[Molly]

[Molly]

You can find the same expression ("burning down the road")
here:

http://badgersforward.blogspot.com/2008/03/five-years-burning-down-road.html
http://www.emedialive.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=5127

"What I said I said to her
I'm alive when you walk that way
Can you hear what I can hear?
It's the sound of a brand new day

She met me down a disco in a beat up car
I was burning down the road
I can be a star in my Jaguar
I need to lighten my load"

http://www.google.es/search?hl=en&q=%22burning+down+the+road%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=lr%3Dlang_en

In my English it would literally mean driving or running very fast down the road while metaphorically, it would mean doing something with energy, vigour, well, as a leader, etc.

[Jamie (K)]

[Molly]

I see. So most Americans would understand that passage right off, right? What's it mean?

[Jamie (K)]

[Molly]

[Ralf]

[Yankee]

Hi Alex

I see the line "I'm 10 years burning down the road" primarily as a reference to an American veteran of the War in Vietnam -- 10 years after the war officially ended. To me, the suggestion is that since he returned, "he has gone (and is still going) nowhere fast" (especially in combination with the following line).
.
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Molly]

[Ralf]

[Molly]

[Molly]

Americans, can you tell me what this means?

And there's ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away.
They haunt this dusty beach road in the skeleton frames of burnt-out Chevrolets.
They scream your name at night in the streets.
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet.
And in the lonely gloom before dawn, you hear their engines roarin' on...

[MrPedantic]