Blinded by the Light
"Blinded by the Light" is a song written and originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen, although it is mostly known by its 1977 #1 hit version recorded by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Mann's remake was released in the United Kingdom in August 1976, where it reached No. 6 in the BMRB charts.
History
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.
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".
Blinded by the Light (film)
Blinded by the Light is a 1980 television film starring Kristy McNichol and directed by John A. Alonzo. The film is based upon a Robin F. Brancato novel.
Plot
David Bowers is a teenager who runs away from home to join a quasi-religious cult. His sister Janet is determined to find him, but almost winds up getting brainwashed by the cult herself.
Cast
References
External links
Podcasts:
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by Peter Hammill
The Cut
by: Peter HammillEverything out of order
everything too well produced
from the conjuror's hat –
let's turn on the juice
to grind the cutting plane, the blade that gives an edge,
to scale the mountain; to fail upon the mountain ledge.
Half-way up is half-way peaking,
the stroboscope locks the lathe;
I look around for a switch in phase...
the disco boom stands firm, the eight-track's in, the rage
licks the present, quickly flips the future page.
Check the deck: no marked cards,
no sequentialled straight or flush...
the dice won't still the blood-line rush.
Run the star-flood night, the cut-throat blade is stropped;
race your shadow... race in case your shadow stops.
Everything so out of order
no bias on the playback head;
papers for the border –
all the tape is read,
the future burns my tongue, the noise-gates all are shut,
breathe the vacuum, believe there's reason in the cut.
Incipient white noise,
the stylus barely tracks,