6 August, 1976.

Okay, for the record (no pun intended), the line is ‘Revved up like a deuce’ and not ‘Wrapped up like a douche’. You know what I’m talking about, yes, you. You and your twisted lyrics.

Originally written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen, this appeared on his 1973 album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. but as a single was commercially unsuccessful.

It wasn’t until 1976 that the song had any chart success, when Manfred Mann’s Earth Band recorded their version. Included on the 1976 album The Roaring Silence, the song went on to reach the top twenty in the Netherlands and Australia whilst giving them a number one hit in both the US and Canada – and also giving Springsteen his only number one hit as a songwriter in the US. Here in the UK the song spent ten weeks on the chart and peaked at number six.