Dave's Song of the Day
Blinded by the Light – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
Saturday song of the day: No, today’s song has nothing to do with a douche.
Early in his career, Bruce Springsteen was obviously Dylanesque in his writing. This is particularly evident in
Blinded by the Light, from his 1972 debut album,
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. He admitted to making liberal use of a rhyming dictionary when writing this song, and it shows.
Blinded by the Light was the first single from the album, and it did not sell very well.
A few years later, however, the
Born to Run album had established Springsteen as a big star. Because of this, his back catalogue received more attention, and Manfred Mann decided to record a cover version of
Blinded by the Light. Mann had had a #1 hit in 1964 with
Do Wah Diddy Diddy, and since 1971 was performing with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. The band recorded
Blinded by the Light for their 1976 album
The Roaring Silence.
The Manfred Mann cover version was quite different from the Springsteen original. The music was much more polished and lusher, while several of the lyrics were changed. For instance, Springsteen had used the line “cut loose like a Deuce” while Mann changed it to “revved up like a Deuce.” The “Deuce” referred to a 1932 Ford, a favorite of hot rodders – immortalized much earlier by the Beach Boys song
Little Deuce Coupe. When the Manfred Mann cover became popular, however, many listeners misheard the line as “wrapped up like a douche.” Many people still don’t know the correct line is referring to a car.
The Manfred Mann’s Earth Band cover became a huge hit, reaching #1 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart. Oddly, while Springsteen is now a rock icon and a much bigger figure in music history than Manfred Mann, the cover version of
Blinded by the Light is the only song written by Bruce Springsteen to reach #1. His next highest charting single is his own 1984 recording of
Dancing in the Dark, which topped out at #2 on the
Billboard Hot 100.
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, 1976
Bruce Springsteen, 1972
Tomorrow: What you tryin’ to hand me?