When Shakespeare wondered what was in a name, he might have been anticipating the saga of British rocker Manfred Mann. The keyboardist constantly changed brands with his various collectives in the 60s and 70s.
Each of these new incarnations played a different style of music than the one that came before. In 1976, Mann pulled off the feat of scoring a No. 1 single a dozen years after the first time one of his bands did it.
Many Types of Mann
Born in South Africa as Manfred Lubowitz, Mann took on his stage name as an up-and-coming keyboardist in Great Britain in the early 60s. Initially, he played in jazz-based collectives. Wanting to make a living as a musician, he soon realized that the band he formed, simply called Manfred Mann, would need to go in more of a pop direction.
Once they did, the band thrived. They delivered a series of hits throughout the 60s, including the irrepressible 1964 No. 1 US smash “Do Wah Diddy”. When their success waned, Mann shifted gears to form Manfred Mann Chapter Three in the early 70s, focusing on a fusion sound.
But again, the music was too far afield for pop audiences. Mann, sensing once more the way the musical winds were blowing, changed course to more of a progressive sound, albeit one that favored melodic material. This time around, he went with the name Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.
Down to Earth
The Earth Band did some conceptual albums throughout the 70s. But they generally saved room on their albums for inventive covers of popular songs. At some point, someone handed Mann a copy of an early Bruce Springsteen LP. That’s how he discovered “Blinded By The Light”.
Springsteen made the song the lead track and opening single from his 1973 debut album Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. He did it in a jaunty, soulful style. Mann knew immediately that he was going to drastically alter that in his version.
With wild keyboard passages, swooping guitar, and an incorporation of the piano classic “Chopsticks”, Mann’s take on “Blinded By The Light” took a daring swing indeed. Even stranger still, the lyrics didn’t quite align with Springsteen’s original version. Most notably, one word threatened to take down the whole enterprise.
Lyrically “Blinded”
Springsteen’s original lyrics for “Blinded By The Light” included the phrase “cut loose like a Deuce,” a reference to the famed muscle car. Thompson sang “revved up like a Deuce.” On top of that, a slight hitch in the recording caused the last word to sound like “douche.”
Mann worried that the mistake would torpedo the song’s chances at radio. But once he realized the error, he found he couldn’t change the part without messing up the whole record. “Blinded By The Light” was released without alterations as a single in August 1976.
Audiences, many of whom were completely unaware of Springsteen’s original, didn’t mind. “Blinded By The Light” shot to No. 1 in America. Manfred Mann had done it again, proving that he knew how to court the charts no matter what he called his band.
(Photo by David Redfern/Redferns)
The post Remembering When a Rock Veteran Rebranded His Group and Scored His First No. 1 Hit in Over a Decade in 1976 appeared first on American Songwriter.