10 Perfect Rock Songs That Were Written By Someone Else

Outside of the early days of rock and roll in the '60s, it didn't feel like Manfred Mann was going to have that much staying power going forward. Even if their unique brand of rock and roll and pop may have worked well in the days of the British Invasion, the '70s were a very different time to be a pop star, and you needed a little bit more energy in your sound to get the kids' attention. In an age where the competition were acts like Led Zeppelin though, Blinded By the Light actually seemed to hold its own very well.

Even with all of the bells and whistles that are added to this song, the original version was actually penned by a young songwriter out of New Jersey looking to make it named Bruce Springsteen. If you listen to the way they interpret this song, you can hear the Boss' influence all over a song like this, from the colorful imagery that's sprinkled throughout the verses of the song to the raw power behind both the guitars and keyboards that make the whole thing much more epic that it would be as an acoustic ballad.

So why didn't Springsteen save this for himself? Well, the Boss at this point looked a lot different, mining his Bob Dylan schtick and only having a little bit of energy in his version from his debut album Greetings From Asbury Park. It would take a few more years for Bruce to realize the power behind E Street, but he seemed to be at least taking notes on what Manfred Mann was hinting at.