Chris Thompson was the new guitarist and vocalist with the Manfred Mann’s Earth Band in 1976. And his first single with the group couldn’t have been bigger: “Blinded by the Light,” a cover of a deep cut from Bruce Springsteen’s 1973 album, Welcome to Asbury Park.
“I could have died and been happy then,” Thompson says recalling the single’s chart-topping success.
Thompson had been working at his career for years, yearning for success. And in one fell swoop, he found it. “Having a number one in America and being hugely successful is all I ever really hoped I’d be able to do,” he says.
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band was an unlikely group to have a radio hit. The English act was founded by keyboardist Mann, who’d had success with his self-named pop group in the 1960s and their 1968 cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mighty Quinn,” a number-one hit in the U.K. and a number 10 in the U.S.
By the early 1970s, Mann had abandoned pop and founded the Earth Band, which was known for its prog-rock leanings. But Mann clearly had a desire to create more radio-friendly fare.
According to Thompson — who joined the group when guitarist Mick Rogers departed in 1975 — Mann had a list of songs that included a few Springsteen cuts. “Blinded by the Light” was the first they worked on in the studio, but not before putting it through its paces on the road.
As it happens, its success was far from guaranteed.
“We played ‘Blinded by the Light’ all the time at gigs to try and figure out what worked and what didn’t,” he says. “Funnily enough, it didn’t work at all. Audiences just didn’t like it. We’d play the song, and people would disappear. It was a toilet break song.”
But Mann and Thompson were certain “Blinded by the Light” had untapped potential. “It was very different,” Thompson admits. “But it was basically our shot at having a pop hit, or to become a crossover rock and pop band.”
Although Thompson says audience response to the song left the band without “much confidence” in it, Mann was “relentless.”
“We just went for it until it was on the record.”
“We played ‘Blinded by the Light’ all the time at gigs to try and figure out what worked and what didn’t. Funnily enough, it didn’t work at all. Audiences just didn’t like it."
— Chris Thompson
They succeeded. “Blinded by the Light” might have been a dud for Bruce Springsteen, but it paid off for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, who released it as the lead single from their 1976 album, The Roaring Silence.
It was all good — except for that “little issue" with the song’s lyrics. Shockingly, Springsteen’s phrase “cut loose like a goose” was replaced by what sounds suspiciously like “wrapped up like a douche” in Mann's version.
It didn’t hurt the song’s airplay or sales, and may have even helped by giving it a boost of notoriety. In the end, the record gave Chris Thompson what he coveted most: enduring success in America as a professional musician.
“I worked so hard as a boy to learn to play guitar and how to play and sing together,” Thompson says. “It was the culmination of all the work I’d put in, and it pretty much means everything to me.”
Why did the band want to record “Blinded by the Light?”
Manfred was sent the Greetings from Asbury Park album by a DJ named Ed Sharkey from Philadelphia. Manfred went through that and actually found three songs that he wanted to do, and when I joined the band, he already had “Blinded by the Light” on his list.
That was one of the first songs that I played with him. In fact, I don’t think I’d be wrong to say that doing that song was the reason that Mick Rogers left the band. He didn’t want to do that song—but Manfred believed in it. He was right, of course.
What was the process of arranging the Earth Band’s version, which is much different from Springsteen’s?
It started with Manfred and I on piano, just kind of going through it and talking about the ideas that we might have. And then, like everything from the Earth Band, it was a long process of weeks and weeks playing, just working on how the arrangement could go. We had quite a few different ideas, and we when we got to the point where we thought, “Okay, this is it,” we went into the recording studio, and Manfred didn’t like anything anymore. [laughs]
So, how did you come to the version that we hear on The Roaring Silence?
We had to kind of change it. Actually, the engineer found Manfred doodling around while we were recording and came up with the actual introduction of the song, you know, that electric piano introduction. It came from the jams we were having, but before that, we had cellos going, and everybody felt it was kind of boring. Like everything with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, it developed over a very long time.
"I don’t think I’d be wrong to say that doing that song was the reason Mick Rogers left the band. He didn’t want to do it. But Manfred believed in it. He was right, of course."
— Chris Thompson
What guitars, amps, and pedals were you using then?
I was playing a new [Gibson] Les Paul from 1975, which is now an old Les Paul. [laughs] It was the first-ever Les Paul that I had. I never had enough money to buy a Les Paul before that. Before that, I was playing pretty cheap Hofners and stuff like that. It was pretty fantastic for me to be able to play a Les Paul like that.
With the Les Paul, I had a chorus pedal and one of those round FuzzFace pedals. I had that, a 50-watt Marshall amplifier, and a 4x12 speaker box. That’s what I used all the time with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. I’ve still got it right behind me. I’m looking at that amplifier right now!
The credits say Dave Flett played lead. Is that accurate, or did you play some lead on the track, too?
I was playing what I call the “chorus guitar.” Dave played all the in-between licks, you know, all those little things, and the solo.
Was Dave’s rig much different from yours?
Dave used a [Gibson] Flying V. With that, he used a 100-watt Marshall and lots more pedals than I had. I wouldn’t be able to tell you what his pedals were, but he used a lot. But he also used a lot of straight sounds because he liked the sound of the Flying V, which, as you know, is totally different from the Les Paul.
You handled the lead vocals on “Blinded by the Light,” except for the final verse, which was done by Manfred. How did that shake out?
Well, Manfred… actually, yeah… he does do the last verse. [laughs] You’re right! But he actually wanted Bruce [Springsteen] to do it. Manfred got a number for Bruce when he was on the road and gave him a call, asking if he would like to sing on it, but he turned down the opportunity. So, we needed another voice for that verse. I can’t remember why he decided on that other voice, but yeah, it’s Manfred on that. He’s actually a good singer. His interpretation of it is quite good, I think.
Infamously, the was a lyrical snafu between “deuce” and “douche.” Did you try and fix that in the studio?
You know… it was all down to the second engineer, who had forgotten to line up a thing called an azimuth. It had to be lined up every day with the old tape machines; it’s lining up the way the tape goes across the 16 or 24-tracks. You had to line it all up. He forgot to line it up on the day I was doing the vocal, and so when we did the mix, it came out sounding like “douche.”
The Americans kind of picked up on it after it was too late, and it was already out. There were so many problems with trying to record it. We did a cross-fade, which is really difficult to do, by running two tape machines together. But we didn’t try and fix it up, but Manfred and I were sent by Warner Brothers to America to go to 50 radio stations in about three weeks to explain that it wasn’t “douche.” [laughs]
We explained that it was actually “deuce” and that it was a physical problem with the recording. I don’t know what it might have done, but, really, it got played so much because people, first of all, didn’t know what the lyric was. They’d say, “Play that ‘douche song.” [laughs] But second of all, it got us more radio play. The more it was played, the more it became a standard. I think it was a good thing.
Along with “Blinded by the Light,” the Earth Band also Springsteen’s “For You” and “Spirit in the Night.” You must have been big fans.
Well, “Spirits” was already done on the Nightingales and Bombers album. But after we had a hit with “Blinded by The Light,” and they didn’t feel there was a follow-up, the record company said, “Hey, why don’t you do another Bruce Springsteen song?”
Did you ever get the chance to meet Bruce in person and talk with him about “Blinded by the Light?”
Yes, I did! I think it was in about 1979, and we were playing in Switzerland, in Zurich, and he was playing there, too. We played two nights, and he was playing the night after us. The promoter asked if we wanted to go to dinner with Bruce because we had a day off in between or whatever.
Of course, I said, “Absolutely.” But it was just me. Manfred didn’t come. So, I went out to dinner with him and Steven Van Zandt; I don’t know why Manfred didn’t come. He was probably embarrassed for waking him up to ask him if he would sing on the song! [laughs]
How did Bruce feel about the Earth Band’s version of the song?
So, we went out to a fondue restaurant. I sat next to Bruce, and we talked generally about what we liked and didn’t like about America. Really, it was funny because we were both fans of Denny’s, and I still am a fan of Denny’s. I love it. We started talking about that, and then he told stories pretty much like he does when he’s onstage.
He was talking about stories to do with the band and things that came up. Then, I said to him, “So Bruce, what did you think about ‘Blinded by the Light?’” He took a little while to reply, and he said, “What’s the other band that you’re playing in at the moment?”
I said, “Oh, you mean Night?” He said, “Yeah…” He said, “What’s that song you do with Night?” I said, “Oh, it’s called ‘Hot Summer Nights.” He said, “I like that song.” [laughs] So, he didn’t like our version of “Blinded by the Light.” I’ve since found out that he hated it. He really disliked it.
"The original words were 'cut loose like a goose,' or something like that — and I didn’t really want to sing that. I don’t know why."
— Chris Thompson
Do you know why?
He really disliked it. He was upset with the fact that it had “douche” in it — and that we’d actually changed some of the words. In those days, you could get away with it; you couldn’t get away with it now because “wrapped up like a deuce” was not the original words. The original words were “cut loose like a goose,” or something like that—and I didn’t really want to sing that. I don’t know why.
So, we wrote some other words, which also created a lot of radio play because people couldn’t understand them. But yeah, I saw Bruce and had a chat with him a couple of years ago. I realized I didn’t have a photo, which, seeing as our lives are kind of entwined forever, I wanted.
He was playing close to where I live in Belgium, so we had a chat. But I couldn’t get him to talk about it. He didn’t want to talk about it. He was very happy to have some selfies, and photos, but I couldn’t get him to talk about it.
Looking back, what does “Blinded by the Light” mean to you?
Wow… It was such a fantastic thing for me. All I ever wanted to do was be successful in the music business. I went to England and found it very difficult to get a job. And then, I got a job with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, and the first song I recorded with them basically went to number one in America!
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