The song was recorded with the E Street Band in May 1982 at Power Station studio in New York City, and co-produced by Springsteen, Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, and Steve Van Zandt.

[2][3] That April, he began recording sessions at the Power Station music studio in New York City with the E Street Band[4][5]—whose line-up then consisted of Roy Bittan, Clarence Clemons, Danny Federici, Garry Tallent, Steve Van Zandt, and Max Weinberg—with production by Springsteen, Van Zandt, Jon Landau, and Chuck Plotkin.

[6] In 2012, Clinton Heylin wrote that throughout the ten recorded takes of the song, Springsteen let the band "vamp away, only to curtail them in the final mix".

[8] Eventually, Springsteen released ten of the solo recordings from the January cassette as the Nebraska album,[9] which came out in September 1982,[10] and temporarily shelved "I'm Goin' Down" and other band tracks from May.

[18] A rock song,[20] "I'm Goin' Down" is described by Uncut contributor John Lewis as having a country music influence, and "sound[ing] in places like Johnny Cash".

[6][23] Music biographers Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin have commented on Bob Clearmountain's "signature" mixing of the track that makes the snare drum sound "[crack] like a whip".

[20][32] Some reviewers have found humor in the lyrics,[19][30] which describe incidents such as the narrator's girlfriend rejecting his attempts at intimacy and sighing with boredom, as well as the couple returning home fighting after a date.

"[34][35] In researcher Pamela Moss's feminist analysis of social class and gender in Springsteen's lyrics, she describes the singer's early-to-mid-1980s oeuvre as being filled with despair.

According to Moss, the man sees the woman's rejection as interference holding back his attempt at a "liberation of the tedium of a working class existence".

[61] Writer Greg Kot has noted that despite the single's chart success, the song was not included on Springsteen's 1995 Greatest Hits compilation.

Some reviewers considered the song to be among the best on Born in the U.S.A.,[23][64] including Ken Tucker of The Philadelphia Inquirer, who called the track one of the "emotional centerpieces on the album, and perhaps [one of] the finest examples of Springsteen's songwriting to date".

[19] Sounds critic Sandy Robertson, reviewing a pre-release version of Born in the U.S.A. on which the title was listed as "Down Down Down", characterized the song as "a hit single if I ever heard one" and "the core that justifies most of the hype dumped on [Springsteen]".

[68] About the song's choice as the album's sixth single, critic Jan DeKnock called the release "the dud of the week" that was "an uninspired ... filler cut".

[78][79] Describing a performance of the song at an August 25, 1984 show in Landover, Maryland, critic Geoffrey Himes wrote that the "lean, synth-dominated album arrangement was supplanted by a full-tilt rock 'n' soul version".

[28] Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the eastern United States, Clear Channel Communications—the owner at the time of over 1000 radio stations[97]—issued a memorandum of songs to temporarily avoid playing, which included "I'm Goin' Down".

[98] The list comprised songs that were "too dark ... [or referred] to crashes ... or death",[99] or that simply had "questionable" titles,[97] which might depress listeners grieving from the attacks.

[104][105] The following year, a recording with fiddles and banjos by bluegrass group Trampled by Turtles, who have frequently played "I'm Goin' Down" in concert,[106] appeared on the multi-artist compilation album Dead Man's Town: A Tribute to Born in the U.S.A.[107] In September 2010, the online magazines Stereogum and Pitchfork noted how multiple bands had recently performed "I'm Goin' Down" in live settings within weeks of each other:[110][111] Vampire Weekend played the song in concert in Vancouver and a few days later in early September on a radio show in Seattle,[112] while Free Energy and Titus Andronicus performed it together later that month in Atlanta on their joint tour.

[111] Like Frank Black, members of Vampire Weekend have expressed their high regard for Springsteen's composition, among whom vocalist Ezra Koenig had previously listened to the song "constantly",[113] and bassist Chris Baio cited Springsteen's "incredible melodies, incredible lyrics" that led the band to think "it would be exciting to put our spin on" the song.