• Track: Blinded By the Light
• Artist: Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
• Album: The Roaring Silence
• Year: 1976

Lyrics¹:

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night [x3]

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

Well, she was…
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night [x3]

Some silicone sister
with a manager mister
told me I got 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
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

And go-cart Mozart
was checkin’ out the weather chart
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

Well, 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 tight
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 eyes 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 its funny bone,
and 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

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night [x8]

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light

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
finally 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
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”

She got down but She Never Got Touched
It’s gonna make it through the night

¹(These are Manfred Mann Earth Band’s version of the lyrics; Bruce Springsteen’s vary somewhat.)

Tonight on Dances with Bass Radio, we’re featuring one of the most played and most misunderstood singles of the last 40 years—Blinded By the Light, as performed by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. I say “misunderstood” for several reasons:

• Unbeknownst even to many music aficionados, this hit track was written and originally recorded by The Boss himself—none other than Bruce Springsteen. In fact, at the time The Boss was more accurately described as Some Guy Who Had Yet to Record a Hit Record. The song, originally appeared on Springsteen’s debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., in 1973, and it was a commercial failure.
• It’s “revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night,” not “wrapped up like a douche, another rumor in the night.” Without a doubt, this is one of the most comically misunderstood lyrics in music history. By the way, Springsteen’s original lyrics were, “cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night.” In fact, Springsteen joked during his 2005 VH1 Storytellers release that it wasn’t until Manfred Mann rewrote the lyric that a certain feminine hygiene product became popular. Of course, I like to think that certain product enjoyed popularity prior to the mid-1970s.
• Springsteen has said that he wrote the song using a rhyming dictionary and that it really has no deeper meaning. While the latter might be true, I think there was more than a rhyming dictionary involved in writing this song. Give the lyrics a gander and then tell me that Springsteen wasn’t hanging with Puff the Magic Dragon when he penned this one.

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s version of this song appeared on its 1976 album, The Roaring Silence, and was a number one single. It remains one of the most played AOR radio staples. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band was formed by South African musician, Manfred Mann, in 1971. As a solo artist, Manfred Mann began recording in the 1960s and had two notable hits, Doo-Wah-Diddy and The Mighty Quinn.

Springsteen, of course, went on to become a rock and roll god known as The Boss, selling more than 64 million albums in the U.S. and 120 million worldwide. 

Video:

No official music video was ever made, but here is a high-definition audio version of the track:

A live version performed on Burt Surgarman’s The Midnight Special can be seen here:

And we’d be wildly remiss if we didn’t include Springsteen’s original version:

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