American Paradox

Anyone who knows 1970s music probably has heard the song "Blinded by the Light" by either Bruce Springsteen (original) or Manfred Mann (better-known cover). I like this song a lot for some reason, but the lyrics have never made much sense to me, and I know I'm not alone. So here, for your benefit, is the first chorus and verse of the song, which leads into the second chorus:

Blinded by the light
revved up like a deuce
Another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
revved up like a deuce
Another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
revved up like a deuce
Another runner in the night

Madman drummers bummers
Indians in the summer
with a teenage diplomat

In the dumps with the mumps
as the adolescent pumps
his way in to his hat

With a boulder on my shoulder
feeling kinda' older
I tripped the merry go round
With this very unpleasing
sneezing and wheezing
the calliope crashed to the ground

The calliope crashed to the ground...

and she was blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night...

Props to 007 Lyrics for the lyrics that I couldn't make out, although I had to format things to make more sense.

The lyrics do not get more comprehensible as the song continues but it does have a poetic dissonance to it. What I mean is that it is not simply abstract imagery put together for the purpose of being abstract. That is annoying; in art or in music, to my taste. But I think Bruce Springsteen actually had some kind of Bob Dylan-esque story to tell with the song. That doesn't mean I have any clue what that story is supposed to be.

Several websites try to offer meaning for the song, or at least to clarify the often-misheard lyrics. This site purports to offer the "straight dope" on the song, and its lyrics, though the author doesn't even try to explain meanings.

Still, Manfred Mann one-ups Bruce when they end the song by doing a round, with one dude singing verses while the main vocalist sings the chorus in a slightly different fashion.