Rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry introduced "Back in the U.S.A." in 1959 when the single peaked at number thirty-seven. The first time it appeared on an album was in 1962 and "More Chuck Berry".

The Linda Ronstadt cover of "Back in the U.S.A." hit the top twenty in 1978 from her album "Living in the U.S.A.". According to Wikipedia "Ronstadt had heard the Berry original while being driven around Los Angeles by Eagles member Glenn Frey who had been in her band, the track being on a home-made cassette Frey had playing in his tape deck. Ronstadt recalls that she'd been reminding Frey "how we used to sit around the Troubador bar and go 'Oh it's so horrible and I can't get a record deal'. We were so broke and so miserable and we'd feel so sorry for ourselves and we were so precious about it. Then all of a sudden I looked at him and went" 'Boy, life's really tough. We're going off to ski (at Aspen) with all this money in our pockets, we're going to have a good time, and we've got great music on the tape player.' Just then 'Back in the U.S.A.' came on and I went: 'Boy that would be a great song to sing. I think I'll do that one."