<P> The song came about when Columbia president Clive Davis, upon listening to an early version of Greetings from Asbury Park N.J., felt the album lacked a potential single . Springsteen wrote this and "Spirit in the Night" in response . </P> <P> According to Springsteen, the song came about from going through a rhyming dictionary in search of appropriate words . 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". </P> <P> "Blinded by the Light" was the first song on, and first single from Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. Springsteen's version was commercially unsuccessful and did not appear on the music charts . </P> <P> Manfred Mann's Earth Band released a version of the song on their 1976 album The Roaring Silence . Their version includes the "Chopsticks" melody played on piano near the end of the bridge of the song . The track reached #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian RPM charts . Manfred Mann's Earth Band's recording of "Blinded by the Light" is Springsteen's only #1 single as a songwriter on the Hot 100 (he never had a #1 as a performer except as part of USA for Africa). </P>

What do the lyrics from blinded by the light mean