"Blinded by the Light"
Single by Bruce Springsteen
from the album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.
B-side"The Angel"
ReleasedFebruary 1973 (1973-02)
RecordedSeptember 11, 1972
Studio914 Sound Studios, Blauvelt, New York
GenreFolk rock[1]
Length5:06
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Bruce Springsteen
Producer(s)Mike Appel, Jim Cretecos
Bruce Springsteen singles chronology
"Blinded by the Light"
(1973)		 "Spirit in the Night"
(1973)
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. track listing
9 tracks

Side one

  1. "Blinded by the Light"
  2. "Growin' Up"
  3. "Mary Queen of Arkansas"
  4. "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?"
  5. "Lost in the Flood"

Side two

  1. "The Angel"
  2. "For You"
  3. "Spirit in the Night"
  4. "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City"

"Blinded by the Light" is a song written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen, which first appeared on his 1973 debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. A cover by British rock band Manfred Mann's Earth Band reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in February 1977 and was also a top ten hit in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada.

History

The song came about when Columbia Records president Clive Davis, upon listening to an early version of Greetings from Asbury Park N.J., felt the album lacked a potential single. Springsteen wrote this and "Spirit in the Night" in response.

According to Springsteen, he wrote the song by going through a rhyming dictionary in search of appropriate words. The first line of the song, "Madman drummers, bummers, and Indians in the summers with a teenage diplomat" is autobiographical—"Madman drummers" is a reference to drummer Vini Lopez, known as "Mad Man" (later changed to "Mad Dog"); "Indians in the summer" refers to the name of Springsteen's old Little League team; "teenage diplomat" refers to himself.[2] "As the adolescent pumps his way into his hat" recalls his aunt Dora Kirby claiming "Bruce never took his baseball hat off." A "merry-go-round" is baseball slang for when a pitcher keeps walking batters.[3] The remainder of the song tells of many unrelated events, with the refrain of "Blinded by the light, cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night".

"Blinded by the Light" was the first single from Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.

Cash Box said that it was "much like early Dylan, but especially like 'My Back Pages,'" and that Springsteen "lets loose with a lyrical barrage of images and pictures."[4] Record World said that the song "has some of the cleverest lyrics of all [Springsteen's] material" and that the "tune should start Springsteen off towards a bright future."[5]

Manfred Mann's Earth Band version

"Blinded by the Light"
Side A of the 1976 UK single
Single by Manfred Mann's Earth Band
from the album The Roaring Silence
B-side"Starbird No. 2"
ReleasedAugust 6, 1976
Recorded1976, Workhouse Studios, London
Genre
Length7:08 (album version)
3:48 (single version)
LabelBronze (UK)
Warner Bros. (USA)
Songwriter(s)Bruce Springsteen
Producer(s)Manfred Mann and Earth Band
Manfred Mann's Earth Band singles chronology
"Spirits in the Night"
(1975)		 "Blinded by the Light"
(1976)		 "Questions"
(1976)

Manfred Mann's Earth Band released a version of the song on their 1976 album The Roaring Silence. Their version includes the "Chopsticks" melody played on piano near the end of the bridge of the song. The track reached No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian RPM charts. Manfred Mann's Earth Band's recording of "Blinded by the Light" is Springsteen's only No. 1 single as a songwriter on the Hot 100; his highest-charting single as a solo performer was "Dancing in the Dark" in 1984, which reached No. 2 on the Hot 100, and his only No. 1 was as part of the USA for Africa ensemble that recorded "We Are the World".

Record World said that "After a synthesized intro reminiscent of 'Won't Get Fooled Again,' the group is in full throttle."[6]

Lyrics

Manfred Mann's Earth Band's recording of the song changes the lyrics. The most prominent change is in the chorus, where Springsteen's "cut loose like a deuce" is replaced with either "revved up like a deuce"[7] or "wrapped up like a deuce".[8][9] The lyric is a reference to the 1932 V8-powered Ford automobile, which enthusiasts dubbed the "deuce coupe" (the "deuce" coming from the 2 in 1932, the first year the V8 was available). Springsteen was fond of classic hot rods in his youth, hence the line "cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night". As the line is frequently misheard as "wrapped up like a douche", Springsteen has joked about confusion over the lyrics, claiming that it was not until Manfred Mann rewrote the song to be about a feminine hygiene product that it became popular.[2]

According to Manfred Mann, it was the idea of drummer Chris Slade to use the chords of "Chopsticks" (the tune had at that point already been integrated into the arrangement) as a transition between song parts. The "deuce"/"douche" confusion stems from technical problems[10] (which can be confirmed by comparing to live recordings).

I don't think Springsteen liked our Blinded by the Light, 'cos we sang 'wrapped up like a douche', and it wasn't written like that and I screwed it up completely. It sounded like 'douche' instead of 'deuce', 'cos of the technical process – a faulty azimuth due to tape-head angles, and it meant we couldn't remix it.

Warners in America said, 'You've got to change 'douche', 'cos the Southern Bible belt radio stations think it's about a vaginal douche, and they have problems with body parts down there.' We tried to change it to 'deuce' but then the rest of the track sounded horrible, so we had to leave it. We just said, 'If it's not a hit, it's not.'

But in the end, it was No.1 in America, and so many people came up to us after and said, 'You know why it made No. 1?... Everyone was talking about whether it was deuce or douche.' Apparently Springsteen thought we'd done it deliberately, which we hadn't, so if I ever saw him I'd avoid him and cringe away like a frightened little boy.

— Manfred Mann, Record Collector interview (August 2006), [11]

Manfred was given the album by a deejay in Philadelphia called Ed Sciaky [...] he knew Manfred and loved Manfred’s Earth Band and he just brought the record and gave it to him and said listen to this, I think you could do something with a couple of these tracks. When I joined the band, Manfred was fiddling around with “Blinded by the Light” and I never had heard Springsteen’s version until I went and saw him live in 1977 in Montreal. So Manfred just sang me the song and said this is how it goes. I didn’t want to listen to the original and be swayed by it in any way. So I never heard it at all, we just sat around a piano and Manfred said this is the way it goes. Then we worked it out with the band and the rest is history.

— Ray Shasho, Interview Chris Thompson - KEYS AND CHORDS, [9]

Chart performance

Personnel

According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon:[22]

Original version

Manfred Mann's Earth Band cover

with

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lifton, Dave (January 5, 2016). "Revisiting Bruce Springsteen's Debut 'Greetings From Asbury Park'". Ultimate Classic Rock.
  2. 1 2 "Bruce Springsteen". VH1 Storytellers. Episode 62. April 23, 2005. VH1.
  3. ↑ "Slanguage | Routine". beapro.com. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  4. ↑ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. March 17, 1973. p. 20. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Single Picks" (PDF). Record World. March 10, 1973. p. 12. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Single Picks" (PDF). Record World. September 4, 1976. p. 14. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  7. ↑ "CRR Interview - Chris Thompson - A Human Jukebox". Classic Rock Revisited. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  8. ↑ Original printed lyrics on "The Roaring Silence" album cover
  9. 1 2 "Interview Chris Thompson". KEYS AND CHORDS (in Dutch). Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  10. ↑ February 2018, Hugh Fielder12 (February 12, 2018). "Story Behind Song: Blinded By The Light by Manfred Mann's Earth Band". Classic Rock Magazine. Retrieved May 17, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ "MANN OVERBOARD - Record Collector Magazine". Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  12. 1 2 "National Top 100 Singles for 1976". Kent Music Report. December 27, 1976. Retrieved January 15, 2022 – via Imgur.
  13. ↑ "Australian Chart Book". Austchartbook.com.au. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  14. ↑ "flavour of new zealand - search rianz". www.flavourofnz.co.nz.
  15. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 346/6. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  16. ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  17. ↑ "Cash Box Top 100 2/05/77". Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  18. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Forum – Top 100 End of Year AMR Charts – 1980s (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Image: RPM Weekly – Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. July 17, 2013. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Pop Singles of 1977". Billboard. December 24, 1977. p. 64. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  21. ↑ "Cash Box YE Pop Singles – 1977". Cashbox. Archived from the original on December 13, 2010. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  22. ↑ Margotin, Philippe; Guesdon, Jean-Michel (2020). Bruce Springsteen All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-78472-649-2.
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