Now and then, I suppose, each of us needs to spend a little time in quiet contemplation, trying to puzzle out the lyrics to Blinded By The Light.

There's a lot of information about the song floating around on the internet, but very little of it seems to be a matter of consensus. Everybody agrees that the song was written and originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen. Everybody agrees that the version recorded by Manfred Mann's Earth Band was the bigger hit single. After that it's all chaos.

This MSNBC page has a number of handy links, including the official Springsteen lyrics and the lyrics as recorded by Manfred Mann. But knowing the words that are actually being sung doesn't make it any easier to figure out what the song is about.

Of course everyone thinks that Manfred Mann's version has a line about being "Revved up like a douche," which makes no sense. The Manfred Mann lyrics page clarifies the lyric as "revved up like a deuce," and the original Springsteen version goes "cut loose like a deuce."

And that doesn't make any sense, either. A deuce? Huh?

Wikipedia says that a deuce is slang for a DUI in California. So does the song glorify driving while intoxicated in California? Probably not. Springsteen is famously from New Jersey, not California.

Princeton says that one definition of a deuce is "a devil." OK. Revved up like a devil? Cut loose like a devil? Of course, a deuce is also a tied game in tennis. But that doesn't make any sense, either. And the two-cards in a deck of cards are also called deuces. But that definition doesn't really help decode the song.

This page says that a Deuce is a 1932 Ford. That kinda makes sense. You can rev up and/or cut loose a car. So that works. And this page at the Song Facts website agrees that the "deuce" in question is a "1932 Ford Hotrod."

Not that I really trust the Song Facts website. After all, it also contains the following tidbits:

...he was coaching his son's little league at the time, and wrapped up like a duece refers to a double play,with runners in the night...

Oh, OK, it's a baseball song. So the "Indians in the summer" referenced in the first line must be the Cleveland Indians. And late in the Springsteen version when Bruce sings "Well I jumped up, turned around, spit in the air, fell on the ground," he must be talking about signaling to the pitcher. You know; "throw your slider, Meat."

Oh, no, wait: Tommy in New York says that

"indians in the summer" refers to bruce's childhood baseball team, the indians

Ah. OK. Screw Cleveland.

The Cyberpope in Richmond, Canada offers the following:

I thought it was "break ope' like a douche. . ." & just imagined it was referring to a horrible, horrible grossness

Thank you very much for that vaguely disgusting image. You're not really the Cyberpope, are you? I don't think the real Cyberpope would post anything like that. I think the real Cyberpope would have come up with an interpretation like the one submitted by Andrew in Apex, NC:

This song is about Paul's conversion, as told in the Acts of the Apostles. The verses retell the story as a present-day singer trying to get a gig. It uses several metaphores in a stream-of-conscienceness style.

Well, of course. The lyrics are clearly VERY biblical now that I know that. All they need is a slight change and they're straight out of the New Testament:

"And, lo, little Early Pearly hath come by in his curly wurly. Verily, thus he spake: 'Needeth thou a ride?'"

No, that won't hold water, either.

Gene in Sterling Heights, MI says

Regarding Graham's comment on meaningless lyrics, "Go-Kart Mozart was checkin' out the weather charts, etc." is somewhat cryptic but translates thus. "checkin' out the weather charts" refers to the song "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." Go-Kart Mozart is the writer of the song, who raced go-karts at that time. The lyric refers to Gordon Lightfoot.

Over at the MSNBC page, JB takes issue with that interpretation:

So "Blinded By the Light", released in 1973, references a 1976 song about a 1975 shipwreck? I guess that's why Brucie is the megastar he is. What foresight!

OK, scratch the Lightfoot interpretation.

Margret in Chicago says:

The line "In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into is hat." pretty strongly hints at masturbation.

Yes, it does. It also strongly hints at a ruined hat. His HAT, for Pete's sake? Why his HAT? I mean, SURELY there was a better option.

Man, to heck with trying to figure this song out. I can't even decide on a definitive version of the song. Springsteen wrote it, so you'd think his version would be definitive by default ... but Manfred Mann rearranged the song so dramatically, and the Manfred Mann version is by far the better known of the two. So it's hard to pick.

Here's the Springsteen version:




Here's Manfred Mann's Earth Band:

Both awesome in their own ways. But I think I have to give my vote for the definitive version to these talented performance artists who express the song's complex and profound themes through interpretive dance:

Labels: Humor, Music, You Tube