I decided to roll with "Blinded by the light", I was thinking for the song I can use for Monday Music and I happened to look at the light I use to illuminate the keyboard....as the spots faded away in my retina's I remembered this song by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. "Blinded by the light was my favorite song for many years until Don Henley "Boys of Summer a decade later. The mid 70's was to me the height of the "Superband's era". I was living in Germany, My dad was stationed there and I was getting my music at night from AFN Europe and the "Wolfman Jack" radio show. I jammed out a lot. I would have the radio behind my bed rolling out the music while I was going to sleep. It was a good time. I found out years later that Bruce Springsteen wrote the song but ManFred Mann's Earth Band made it a rock legend. Funny how that worked out.
The song came about when Columbia 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, the song came about from 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. 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 song on, and first single from Greetings from Asbury Park N.J. Springsteen's version was commercially unsuccessful and did not appear on the music charts.
Manfred Mann's Earth Band's recording of the song features several changed lyrics. The most prominent change is in the chorus, where Springsteen's "cut loose like a deuce" is replaced with "revved up like a deuce." This is commonly misheard as "wrapped up like a douche" (the V sound in "revved" is almost unpronounced, and the S sound in "deuce" comes across as "SH" due to a significant lisp)." Springsteen himself has joked about the controversy, claiming that it was not until Manfred Mann rewrote the song to be about a feminine hygiene product that it became popular
Manfred Mann's Earth Band released a version of the song on their album The Roaring Silence. Their version includes the "Chopsticks" melody played on piano near the end of the bridge of the song. The song reached #1 on both Billboard's Hot 100 and on the Canadian RPM chart on 19 February 1977. The Manfred Mann's Earth Band recording of "Blinded by the Light" is Springsteen's only Number 1 single as a songwriter on the Hot 100. In 2002, Danish act Funkstar Deluxe released its disco version of this song. A "jazzified" version can be found on Springsteen's Live in Dublin album, recorded with the Sessions Band.
The song is featured in the films Blow and Running with Scissors.
EX-cellent choice, homes.
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