Songfacts®:

• "Born in East L.A." is a novelty song which parodies Bruce Springsteen's smash anti-war anthem "Born In The U.S.A." The video for the song stars Cheech Marin as the hapless German-Spanglish-English-speaking sap who gets booted back over the Mexican border as an illegal alien. It's a hilarious depiction of an otherwise serious situation involving hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants crossing the borders every year, many of them dying along the grueling trip through the desert.
• A movie based on the music video failed to do anything at the box office, since much of the comedic humor had been spent during the video and audiences had already seen it.
• Cheech Marin himself was actually born in Los Angeles, California, the son of an L.A. police officer. His partner, Canadian-born Tommy Chong, is a highly intelligent individual who plays the part of brain dead stoner to perfection. The two performers were huge hits in the '70s and '80s with their comedy albums and movies, mostly having to do with smoking marijuana and getting themselves into silly situations.