Blinded By The Light – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#1); 1977

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

In 1972 New Jersey’s Bruce Springsteen released his first single, Blinded By The Light, however, it was a British band, not Bruce, that took it all the way to number one.

Manfred Mann first burst onto the British scene in 1964 with 5-4-3-2-1 (#5 UK), then scored an international smash with Do Wah Diddy Diddy. Mid-1969 marked the group’s final British hit, and by 1971 they had evolved into the more jazz-oriented Earth Band.

The new incarnation’s first Bruce shot at a hit was Spirit In Night which peaked at an underwhelming #97 in the spring of 1976.

Blinded By The Light became the next Manfred Mann 7″ Boss release, a seven minute seven second opus of swirling organ and driving rhythm, that – edited down to under four minutes – topped the chart here and hit #6 in the UK. Collectors note: an original copy of Bruce’s non-charting Blinded 45 with picture sleeve goes for over a cool grand.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

• Manfred Mann

Lyrics Written by:

• Bruce Springsteen