Manfred Mann covers Springsteen, hits No. 1

Today's Morning Edition music is from "Blinded by the Light" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, which was No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart 40 years ago.

The song was written by Bruce Springsteen and recorded for his 1973 debut album "Greetings From Asbury Park."

Springsteen said he wrote it using a rhyming dictionary after a record executive told him that the album needed a single that would get played on the radio. The original version did not get much radio airplay and never charted, but Manfred Mann's cover is still the only song written by Springsteen to top the U.S. pop chart.