Blinded by the Light

Song: Blinded by the Light
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Album: Greetings, From Asbury Park NJ




My good friend Mike and I were talking and he mentioned Bruce Springsteen’s “Blinded By the Light,” which I didn’t realize he performed. Actually, if I had guessed I would have thought that Manfred Mann, of the Manfred Mann Earth Band, would have been the songwriter of the tune but a Wikipedia search verified… I was way wrong. My thought was since Manfred’s Mann band; Manfred Mann was responsible for the mid-sixties track “Do Wah Ditty,” that he MUST be the writer just chronologically. But wrong I was… Bruce wrote the song back in 1973 for his album “Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ” and Manfred Mann’s Earth Band recorded the song in 1977, hitting the Billboard Hot 100.

In a VH1 Storytellers appearance, Springsteen mentions that their version most likely was helped to #1 by their changing of a lyric that has often been debated. In Bruce’s original, he sings “cut loose like a deuce” (as in a ’32 Ford Deuce Coupe) versus “revved up like a deuce” as Mann changed it. (And is often misheard as “revved up like a douche”) Frankly… the incorrect lyric, which EVERYONE seems to know, or actually think is the correct phrasing, doesn’t really make sense. So… of course it’s not. But I suppose that only adds to the mystery.

Regardless, Bruce’s version is stellar and I am now glad I know it exists. Something that totally tickled me when researching Wikipedia was the headline on the article for Manfred Mann the band…

“This article is about Manfred Mann the band. For Manfred Mann the man, see Manfred Mann (musician).”

I think it belongs on a t-shirt but also think whomever wrote it was having a little fun.

Enjoy.


Manfred Mann's Earth Band... on Solid Gold!


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