Today we’re talking about a song that has been near the top of my list of songs to profile since I started writing this blog. For the first time, we’ll see two clips featured.
Blinded by the light was written and first recorded by Bruce Springsteen in 1973.
from the quotable Wikipedia……
According to Springsteen, the song came about from going through a rhyming dictionary and looking for rhymes. 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”.
It was Bruce’s first ever single in fact, but it wasn’t a commercial success for him at all. Apparently The Boss wrote the song using a rhyming dictionary - he was under pressure to come up with a single.
In 1976 it was recorded by British Progressive Rock Band, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.
They changed the lyrics slightly, added ‘chopsticks’ and birthed a number 1 hit. In actual fact it really is amazing just what a difference you can make to a song with a load of production and some keyboards!
Have a look at the lyrics below. For the sake of brevity, I have removed a lot of the line duplication - this song’s gotta lot of words! (these are Manfred Mann’s lyrics)
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Madman drummers bummers,
Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin’ kinda older,
I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasin’, sneezin’ and wheezin,
the calliope crashed to the ground
The calliope crashed to the ground
But she was…
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
runner in the night
Some silicone sister with a manager mister told me I go what it takes
She said “I’ll turn you on sonny to something strong,
play the song with the funky break”
And go-cart Mozart was checkin’ out the weather chart to see if it was safe outside
And little Early-Pearly came by in his curly-wurly and asked me if I needed a ride
Asked me if I needed a ride
But she was…
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
She got down but she never got tired
She’s gonna make it through the night
She’s gonna make it through the night
But mama, that’s where the fun is
But mama, that’s where the fun is
Mama always told me not to look into the eye’s of the sun
But mama, that’s where the fun is
Some brimstone baritone anticyclone rolling stone preacher from the east
Says, “Dethrone the dictaphone, hit it in it’s funny bone,
that’s where they expect it least”
And some new-mown chaperone was standin’ in the corner,
watching the young girls dance
And some fresh-sown moonstone was messin’ with his frozen zone, reminding him of romance
The calliope crashed to the ground
But she was…
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Madman drummers bummers, Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin’ kinda older,
I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasin’, sneezin’ and wheezin,
the calliope crashed to the ground
Now Scott with a slingshot finially found a tender spot and throws his lover in the sand
And some bloodshot forget-me-not said daddy’s within earshot save the buckshot, turn up the band
Some silicone sister with a manager mister told me I go what it takes
She said “I’ll turn you on sonny to something strong”
I heard the Manfred Mann version when it was first released and immediately loved it. At the time, I had no idea who Bruce Springsteen was. That was back in 1976 when I was minus 12 years old so it’s no wonder! My musical taste back then was no where near credentialed enough to be aware of him. I now know both and could listen to either at any time but I know which one I prefer…..which one do you prefer? Let me know what you think in the comments.
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