submissions
| Neil Diamond – Cherry, Cherry Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
|
There is a magnificent three-chord EAD guitar riff through-out Cherry Cherry. Diamond is NOT a great guitarist (but he is of course a great song-writer) and he must have known he was on to something when he noodled around with this one. Legend has it that his producers at the time, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, heard Neil noodling on his guitar with this one whilst they were recording other early songs for Diamond in the studio in his Bang days and urged him to finish it. It is pity that Diamond's musical direction veered so much off course for most of the late 70s, 80s and 90's but Rick Rubin has thankfully steered Diamond back on track and got him playing guitar again in the studio and has pared down his sound to just guitars, piano and hand claps etc, a la Cherry Cherry. Take a listen to Diamond's 2005 cut of Delirious Love on his 12 songs album. It is almost Cherry Cherry mark 2. |
submissions
| Neil Diamond – I Am... I Said Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
|
The chair is a reference to the psychiatrist's chair. Diamond battled with this song for 6 months following a near-breakdown after divorce and a move from NY to LA. His failure to land the part of Lenny Bruce in the movie Lenny left him close to breaking point and Diamond was depressed. Diamond eventually took a 4 year sabbatical from performing after his landmark appearance at the Greek Theater in LA in 1972. I am I Said has a far deeper meaning than most casual listeners imagine. The song is a masterpiece by a great songwriter. By his own admission, Diamond spent months in psychotherapy and this song explains wonderfully his thoughts and feelings at the time. In Gestalt therapy, a patient projects his thoughts into an empty chair while a counsellor looks on making notes. This may well explain the meaning of the word chair. It is too easy to dismiss the 'chair' as a trite attempt to make a rhyme but Diamond is nothing but meticulous in his lyric writing and he has said that IAIS underwent countless rewrites until it said exactly what he wanted it to say. Diamond no doubt felt so alone and so alienated that he must have felt that no-one was listening to his tortured cries - not even the (psycho-analyst's) chair. |
submissions
| Neil Diamond – I Am... I Said Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
|
The chair is a reference to the psychiatrist's chair. Diamond battled with this song for 6 months following a near-breakdown after divorce and a move from NY to LA. His failure to land the part of Lenny Bruce in the movie Lenny left him close to breaking point and Diamond was depressed. Diamond eventually took a 4 year sabbatical from performing after his landmark appearance at the Greek Theater in LA in 1972. I am I Said has a far deeper meaning than most casual listeners imagine. The song is a masterpiece by a great songwriter. By his own admission, Diamond spent months in psychotherapy and this song explains wonderfully his thoughts and feelings at the time. In Gestalt therapy, a patient projects his thoughts into an empty chair while a counsellor looks on making notes. This may well explain the meaning of the word chair. It is too easy to dismiss the 'chair' as a trite attempt to make a rhyme but Diamond is nothing but meticulous in his lyric writing and he has said that IAIS underwent countless rewrites until it said exactly what he wanted it to say. Diamond no doubt felt to alone and so alienated that he must have felt that no-one was listening to his tortured cries - not even the (psycho-analyst's) chair. |
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.
