Bruce Springsteen released the song Blinded by the Light in 1973. His first single, it drew on the colorful people he’d met growing up. The lyric “boulder on my shoulder” made reference to the singer/songwriter himself having a chip on his shoulder, something to prove.
While Blinded bombed for the 24-year-old Springsteen, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band took the song to #1 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart – the only Springsteen song ever to reach that pinnacle. It hit the top of the chart on February 19, 1977, making it the #1 song in America the day that Bronson Arroyo was born into this world.