The Many Baseball References in “Blinded by the Light” You Missed Because of That One Lyric

Few songs top lists of misheard lyrics quite as commonly as “Blinded by the Light”, which was originally written by Bruce Springsteen but made famous by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. You likely already know the lyric we’re talking about: “wrapped up like a deuce…a douche…a doozer…in the middle of the night.” (This writer was always particularly fond of the third, least sensical option.)

Videos by American Songwriter

Indeed, the song was all the more famous because of the sheer fact that no one seems to know what, exactly, Mann or Springsteen was saying. Amidst all the ado about that single line, you likely missed the autobiographical tidbits and slick baseball references Springsteen wove into his stream-of-conscious writing.

“Blinded by the Light” Has a Surprising Number of Baseball References

Long before he would become associated with his hit song, “Born in the U.S.A.”, Bruce Springsteen was singing about America’s favorite pastime in a largely overlooked track from his 1973 debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. Like the album title might suggest, Springsteen incorporated imagery and ideas from his childhood and teenage years growing up in the Garden State. Some of those references were harder to spot than others, like the pseudo-abstract, stream-of-conscious writing he used in “Blinded by the Light”.

In an episode of VH1’s Storytellers, Springsteen went line by line to explain what the song’s complex and wordy lyrics really meant. The first line about “madman drummers, bummers, and Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat” was partially about Springsteen’s E Street Band drummer, Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez. But the last half of the lyric is about a young Springsteen. He’s the teenage diplomat. He’s also the Indian in the summer—that was the name of his little league team. “It was also kind of the ‘Cowboys and Indians’ in the woods,” he said.

The next line, “in the drums with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat,” was “self-explanatory,” Springsteen told the Storytellers crowd. While we’d argue it’s not the most self-explanatory, it does evoke images of a teen going through childhood sickness with a desire to make himself bigger, stronger, and more adult-like. (Unverified accounts from Springsteen’s aunt said the line had to do with the fact that Springsteen was always wearing a baseball cap.)

Some posit “tripped the merry-go-round” is a reference to the baseball term that describes a scenario in which the bases are full, there are two outs, and a full count on the batter.

The Song Was a Testament to Bruce Springsteen’s Clean Lifestyle

Using a rhyming dictionary and allowing his mind to wander on his childhood, adulthood, and the world and society around him, Bruce Springsteen turned “Blinded by the Light” into a track reminiscent of the beat poetry popularized in the previous decade. As Springsteen explained on Storytellers, the 1973 track was also his way of explaining “why I never did any drugs. I don’t think I could have stood it. My mind was already reeling.” Springsteen famously abstains from drugs and hard drinking to achieve the best possible performances and recordings he can. This is a high bar to which he also holds his long-time backing group, the E Street Band.

As for that one lyric that nobody seems to understand? When Springsteen first wrote it, he was thinking of a deuce, like a deuce coupe. A “two-seater hot rod,” he explained. He heard Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s version as “douche,” which he attributes to the cover version’s immense chart success. “What can I say? The public spoke. They were right,” Springsteen admitted.

Springsteen’s version of “Blinded by the Light” didn’t perform exceptionally well on the charts. But the Boss managed to land his first and only No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, thanks to Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s version. They released their version three years later.

Photo by David Gahr/Getty Images