Blinded by the Light
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"Blinded by the Light" is a song written and originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen. It was originally released as the first track on his first album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. (1973); as the first single from that album it was a dud, failing to chart, although the track later gained airplay on progressive rock radio. It then attained its greatest success when it was remade by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, whose version reached Number 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1977. As of 2006, the Manfred Mann recording of "Blinded by the Light" is still Springsteen's only Number 1 single as a songwriter on the Hot 100.
Springsteen wrote the song after most of the others on Greetings were finished, and was intended to be the first single, which it was. It is also one of the few songs Springsteen ever wrote the words to before arranging the music. Those swiftly-paced, jumbled lyrics [link] are stream of consciousness descriptions of a series of bizarre individuals he met while a young artist in New Jersey. Playing small venues, such as bars along the Jersey Shore, Springsteen recounts various characters from these events. He alludes to Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez, then his drummer, in the opening line "Madman drummers", as well as the "silicone sister" (bartender, possibly a to an erotic dancer) who encourages him to play a particular, unknown song. United by the chorus: "Yeah (s)he was blinded by the light/Cut loose like a deuce another runner in the night/Blinded by the light/(S)he got down but (s)he never got tight, but (s)he's gonna make it (allright) tonight", the song goes on to chronicle Springsteen's trouble to get the bar patrons, who rarely cared about or even heard the music, to get excited and into the performance.
The central reference is to the religious conversion of Paul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, but Springsteen was referring metaphorically to the music industry and wealth and fame.
The lyrics of the song feature extensive use of internal rhyme in lines such as the following:
- Some brimstone baritone anti-cyclone rolling stone preacher from the east
- He says "Dethrone the dictaphone, hit it in its funnybone, that's where they expect it least."
Springsteen's version has been described as folky and acoustic compared to Manfred Mann's harder rock take on the song, which prominently features early electronic keyboards.
However, Bruce Springsteen, in his 2005 VH1 Storytellers appearance, lightheartedly made the assertion that the sole reason that Manfred Mann's version of the song went to number one is that the altered lyric is actually "revved up like a douche". Bruce said, "The original lyric is 'cut loose like a deuce' referring to a two seat hot-rod, a little deuce coupe. Manfred Mann changed the lyric to 'revved up like a douche.' which is a feminine hygenic procedure."
A reference to the song was made in an episode of Saturday Night Live, where David Spade plays a character who cannot make sense of the lyrics to the refrain of the song. The short-lived sketch comedy show The Vacant Lot featured a group of friends, all with their own different interpretations.
External links
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