Blinded By The Light

Lyrics meaning of Blinded By The Light by Manfred Mann's Earth Band (Bruce Springsteen), and what it is about

Written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen, "Blinded by the Light" was originally featured on his 1973 debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. In February 1977, a cover by the British rock group Manfred Mann's Earth Band peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and went on to become a top ten hit in the UK, New Zealand, and Canada.

After listening to an early version of Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey, Columbia Records head Clive Davis felt the album lacked a potential single. This is how the song came to be. In response, Springsteen wrote "Spirit in the Night" and this song.

Springsteen claims that in order to come up with the song's lyrics, he looked through a rhyming dictionary. "Madman drummers, bummers and Indians in the summers with a teenage diplomat" is the autobiographical first line of the song. "Indians in the summer" is the name of Springsteen's former Little League team; "teenage diplomat" is a reference to himself; "madman drummers" is a reference to drummer Vini Lopez, also known as "Mad Man" (later altered to "Mad Dog").

Bruce "never took his baseball hat off," according to his aunt Dora Kirby, as the teenager "pumps his way into his hat." The term "merry-go-round" in baseball refers to a pitcher who repeatedly walks batters. "Blinded by the light, cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night" is the refrain that runs through the rest of the song, which describes a number of unrelated incidents.

The song was included on Manfred Mann's Earth Band's 1976 album The Roaring Silence. In their rendition, the piano melody from "Chopsticks" is heard at the conclusion of the song's bridge, and changing of some of the lyrics. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Blinded By The Light lyrics by Manfred Mann's Earth Band (Bruce Springsteen)

Blinded by the light

Revved up like a deuce

Another runner in the night

Blinded by the light

Madman drummer 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

Feeling kinda older

I tripped a merry-go-round

With this very unpleasing

Sneezing and wheezing

The calliope crashed to the ground

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

Blinded by the light

Revved up like a deuce

Another runner in the night

Some silicone sister

With her 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-kart Mozart

Was checking 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

'Cause 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 to 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

[Solo]

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

That's where they expect it least."

And some new mown chaperone

Was standing in the corner

Watching the young girls dance

And some fresh-sown moonstone

Was messing 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

(Madman drummers bummers and Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat

In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat)

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

(With a boulder on my shoulder feelin' kinda older I tripped the merry-go-round

With this very unpleasing sneezing and wheezing the calliope crashed to the ground)

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

(And now Scott with a slingshot finally found a tender spot and throws his lover in the sand

And some bloodshot forget-me-not whispers daddy's within earshot save the buckshot turn up the band.)

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

(Some silicone sister with her manager mister told me I got what it takes

She said I'll turn you on sonny to something strong)

She got down but she never got tired

She's gonna make it through the night