Neil Diamond was a singular performer. Don’t get me wrong with that use of the past tense; Neil’s still alive, but he’s not recording or performing any longer; he is 84, after all.
Born in Brooklyn in 1941, Neil Leslie Diamond got a guitar for his 16th birthday, and it was all uphill from there. He started writing songs very quickly, and in 1965, he began experiencing his first successes, not as a performer, but as a songwriter. He wrote a Top 20 hit for the band Jay and the Americans, titled "Sunday and Me." He went on to write several hits for the Monkees, including "I’m a Believer," "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You," and "Love to Love."
Then, in 1969, Neil left New York and moved to Los Angeles. In that year, he had his first hit as a performer, with Sweet Caroline, a song that still has fans bursting into song to this day.
Neil’s butter-smooth voice, appealing presence, and talent for both writing and singing brought him a great place in music history.
Neil’s still around. He stopped performing after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, but he’s still alive, and we honor his career every time we listen to his trademarked, even, smooth voice. In 2011, Neil was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and boy, howdy, he earned it.
Here are six of my favorite examples from when Neil Diamond was at the peak of his career.
Sweet Caroline (1969): OK, I’ll be honest, I included this one because I wanted to prompt the inevitable audience reactions, as in parentheses appended to the lyrics here:
Sweet Caroline (BA BA BA!)
Good times never seemed so good (So good! So good!)
I’ve listened to this song a million times. I still do it. So do you. Admit it. In a 2007 interview, Neil claimed this song was inspired by John F. Kennedy’s daughter Caroline, but she was only 11 years old when the song was released, so that seems like a bit of an eyebrow-raiser. I wonder if Neil remembers that one properly.
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Cracklin’ Rosie (1970): This ended up as Neil’s first song to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and his third song to go gold, selling over a million copies. It’s catchy, with a rather elusive melody, and oddly enough, seems to suggest an unending devotion to a prostitute. Hey, it was the ‘70s.
Song Sung Blue (1979): This one was reportedly inspired by Mozart’s Piano Concerto #21, although I can’t quite see the connection. This, too, was a #1 Billboard Top 100 hit, and stayed at number one for a week, and in the top 10 for 12 weeks. That’s a pretty fair record for a single. In his 1996 greatest hits album, In My Lifetime, Neil said of this song:Oh, I love my Rosie child —
You got the way to make me happy.
You and me, we go in style...
Cracklin' Rose, you're a store-bought woman
But you make me sing like a guitar hummin' ...
Forever in Blue Jeans (1979): Neil co-wrote this song with his regular guitarist, Richard Bennett. It didn’t see the commercial success of some of Neil’s other tunes, but it did OK – and that’s appropriate, as it’s a song about doing OK. Neil later said that this song was meant to mean that “the simple things are really the important things.” It’s a good operating principle, at least it seems that way to me, being a blue jeans guy myself.I never expected anyone to react to "Song Sung Blue" the way they did. I just like it, the message and the way a few words said so many things."
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September Morn (1979): From the album of the same name, this may be one of the all-time great love songs. It’s about two people who apparently have been separated for some time, their reunion, and reflections on their past time together. The lyrics say it all:
America (1980): It’s nice to hear a singer doing a song so unapologetically patriotic, even if it was released 45 years ago. This song was written and recorded for the movie Jazz Singer, but it saw plenty of radio play in 1980 and 1981, as well. It’s a positive statement of legal immigration, how people came to America full of hopes and dreams, a desire to become American, with all that this means – and the song ends delightfully with Neil singing the lyrics to "My Country, ‘Tis of Thee" to the tune of the song.Neil Diamond was, as I remember it, a huge radio draw back in the day, in the years this selection spans. I was in high school for most of them, and I still remember belting out “BA BA BA” to "Sweet Caroline" at the proper moment; that seems to be a thing that goes back a long way, and I have to admit, it’s a lot more polite than the standard reply to "Mony Mony."Stay for just a while
Stay and let me look at you
It's been so long, I hardly knew you
Standing in the door
Stay with me a while
I only wanna talk to you
We've traveled halfway 'round the world
To find ourselves again
Got any Neil Diamond favorites or anecdotes? As always, the comments are all yours!
