Over the past two decades (and then some), the US picture sleeve for Bruce's 1973 debut 7-inch single "Blinded By The Light" has been the stuff of legend among the Springsteen collecting community. Many rumours have been spread, wondersome stories told, wild theories expressed; but still, its actual origin and purpose pretty much remained something of a mystery to this day. Was it a promotional or a stock item? Is it true that one lucky guy once found a box full of these sleeves in a dumpster behind a CBS office? Have they ever been counterfeited? In the following exclusive feature, Australian super-collector Peter Bambini answers these and many other questions, and finally strips away the myths by revealing some hard, cold facts for the first time.

The legendary “Blinded...“ picture sleeve was a stock sleeve created for a promotional purpose. The sleeve was designed and manufactured by Columbia Records in a quantity of 500 copies at the request of Laurel Canyon Management (the company run by Mike Appel & Jim Cretecos), who wanted sleeves as part of a targeted marketing campaign in which Bruce’s debut 45 would be sent to influential DJ’s, radio station program directors and music critics.

Columbia Records’ Production Department shipped the entire lot of 500 sleeves to Laurel Canyon “uncropped” (top of sleeve was not put through CBS’s factory sleeve lip rounding machine) and “unglued” (flat slicks). Someone at Laurel Canyon folded and hand-glued the sleeves and slotted in the discs.

Approximately 150-200 of the 500 sleeves were distributed with a disc inside. A combination of promo label and stock label discs were utilized, with stock labels having a tiny “For Review Purposes” sticker attached. These are the sleeves that usually turn up in worn condition and show the obvious signs of a disc having been stored inside the sleeve. A proportion of these sleeves almost certainly haven’t survived the ravages of time.

Approximately 150-200 sleeves were folded and glued but were never utilized. Most or all of these survived and most or all of these came into the hands of a buyer in 1978 following the settlement of the Appel lawsuit. None of these sleeves were hoarded - all were quickly dispersed among the dealer and collector community. These are the sleeves that usually turn up in Near Mint or even Mint condition.

Approximately 100-200 sleeves were not folded or glued and remained as flat slicks. These apparently were thrown out sometime in 1974/75 and are not believed to survive today.

Columbia Records never shipped any stock or promo label discs with the picture sleeve - they had no sleeves to ship.

The lyrics to “Blinded...“ are printed on the rear of the sleeve. The sleeve lyrics are missing three lines from the penultimate verse and the entire final verse; the same verses that were edited out of the stock and promo label version on the debut 45.

It is of note that modern-day reproductions of the sleeve have recently come into circulation. These are normally in at least Near Mint condition, and (as opposed to original copies, which were glued together quite sloppily) also feature flawlessly sharp edges/corners.