Neil Diamond
To no one there
And no one heard at all
Not even the chair…
Neil Leslie Diamond (born 24 January 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, who, according to Billboard magazine, is the third most successful Adult Contemporary artist ever, ranking behind only Barbra Streisand and Elton John.
Quotes
[edit]Larry King interview (2003)
[edit]- I actually wanted to go to medical school. I actually wanted to be a laboratory biologist. I wanted to study. And I really wanted to find a cure for cancer. My grandmother had died of cancer. And I was always very good at the sciences. And I thought I would go and try and discover the cure for cancer.
- A thing called "Cherry Cherry", was my first big national hit. It was a top five record. And international, as well. And you know, that's what broke the dam. … Boom, as soon as that record hit, I was out on the road. And I've been out on the road… since then. … I didn't realize it at first, but I did want to perform. I liked it. It was fun. You know, I went through all of the growth experiences that you go through in any field. But I did like it. And you know, I've been doing it since.
- I'm a perfectionist. I like to get it right. I like to get it good. And you know, writing songs is not -- it's not the kind of thing that you can count on every day. You never know what's going to come or if it's going to come. So you -- you know, it's an uncertain kind of a thing.
- I'm a writer who performs. And I mean, I'm basically a writer. I've been doing it since I was 16. … For me, the balance between the two, the writing -- a year, two years, whatever it takes to do an album, and then you've had enough of writing and thinking and being introspective and all of that kind of stuff, and you want to get out on the road and you want to, you know, get into the physicality of performing.
Song lyrics
[edit]
"I am," said I
And I am lost, and I can't even say why …
To find ourselves again
September morn
- Her eyes would make an angel smile.
They'd call her Sunday.
She'll take a man and drive him wild.
Her name is Sunday,
And one day I'm gonna make her mine.
It's gonna be so fine.
You wait and see,
It's gonna be
Just Sunday and me.- Sunday and Me, performed by Jay and the Americans (1965)
- Girl, I don't want to fight,
I'm a little bit wrong,
And you're a little bit right.
I said, girl, you know that it's true,
It's a little bit me,
And it's a little bit you too.- A Little Bit Me, performed by The Monkees (1967)
Kentucky woman
She shines with her own kind of light.
She'd look at you once
And a day that's all wrong looks all right.
And I love her, God knows, I love her.Kentucky woman,
If she get to know you,
She goin' to own you.
Kentucky woman.- Kentucky Woman (1967)
The Feel of Neil Diamond (1966)
[edit]- Don't know that I will,
But until I can find me
The girl who'll stay
And won't play games behind me,
I'll be what I am:
A solitary man, solitary man.
Says she loves me
Yes, yes she does
Gonna show me tonight, yeahShe got the way to move me, Cherry
Ah, to be so exciting
Won't need bright lights
No, no we won't
Gonna make our own lightingShe got the way to move me, Cherry
- Cherry, Cherry
Just for You (1967)
[edit]- Don't you know
Girl, you'll be a woman soon.
Please, come take my hand.
Girl, you'll be a woman soon.
Soon you'll need a man.
Red, red wine
Go to my head.
Make me forget that I
Still need her so.Red, red wine,
It's up to you.
All I can do, I've done.
But memories won't go.
No, memories won't go.
- I thought love was only true in fairy tales
Meant for someone else but not for me …- I'm a Believer, first performed by The Monkees in 1966
- Then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
I'm in love
I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her if I tried.- I'm a Believer
- Shilo when I was young,
I used to call your name.
When no one else would come,
Shilo you always came and we'd play.
Used to slip though every girl's hand like water
There never was one who could ever tie me down
Straight ahead and steady as Gibraltar
'Til you brought me tumblin' to the groundYou got to me
You brought me to may knees- You Got To Me
Velvet Gloves and Spit (1968)
[edit]- I'm walkin'
But I'm going nowhere at all.
I'm 'bout to head any place in the world
But the place that I am
- Two bit manchild I was
Born for nothin' mostly
Good time with sometime women.
Nothin' ain't ever hold me.
You can't change me none.- Two-Bit Manchild
- It's Love, Brother Love, say
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show.
Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies.
And ev'ryone goes, 'cause everyone knows
Brother Love's show.
- Hands, touchin' hands,
Reachin' out, touchin' me, touchin' you.
Sweet Caroline.
Good times never seemed so good.
I've been inclined
To believe they never would.
But now I, look at the night
And it don't seem so lonely.
We fill it up with only two.
Touching You (1969)
[edit]- Call the sun in the dead of the night
And the sun gonna rise in the sky
Touch a man who can't walk upright
And that lame man, he gonna fly.
And I fly, yeah, And I fly.
Tap Root Manuscript (1970)
[edit]- Hitchin' on a twilight train
Ain't nothing here that I care to take along.
Maybe a song
To sing when I want.
No need to say please to no man
For a happy tune.
- "I am," I said
To no one there
An no one heard at all
Not even the chair
"I am," I cried
"I am," said I
And I am lost, and I can't even say why
Leavin' me lonely still.
Song sung blue, everybody knows one.
Song sung blue, every garden grows one.Me and you are subject to
The blues now and then.
But when you take the blues
And make a song,
You sing 'em out again.
- You are the sun, I am the moon.
You are the words, I am the tune.
Play me.
I've seen the light
And I've seen the flame.
And I've been this way before,
And I'm sure to be this way again.For I've been refused,
And I've been regained,
And I've seen your eyes before,
And I'm sure to see your eyes again.
Once again.For I've been released,
And I've been regained,
And I've sung my song before,
And I'm sure to sing my song again.
Once again.
- Longfellow Serenade,
Such were the plans I'd made.
For she was a lady
And I was a dreamer,
With only words to trade.
Beautiful Noise (1976)
[edit]- And here's to the songs we used to sing;
And here's to the times we used to know.
It's hard to hold them in our arms again,
But hard to let them go.
Dry your eyes and take your song out.
It's a newborn afternoon.
And if you can't recall the singer,
You can still recall the tune.Dry your eyes and play it slowly,
Like you're marching off to war.
Sing it like you know he'd want it,
Like we sang it once before.- Dry Your Eyes, co-written with Robbie Robertson
Desiree,
Oh, Desiree.
There I was found
By the sweet passion sound
Of your loving song.
Time was right, the night was long.Remember Desiree,
Oh, Desiree.
And though somehow I knew
I could only have you 'til the morning light,
The night was long, the time was right.
- You don't bring me flowers.
You don't sing me love songs.
You hardly talk to me anymore.
When you come through the door
At the end of the day.- You Don't Bring Me Flowers, co-written with Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman
You Don't Bring Me Flowers (1978)
[edit]- Money talks,
But it don't sing and dance.
And it don't walk.
And long as I can have you
Here with me, I'd much rather be
Forever in blue jeans.
September Morn (1979)
[edit]- We've traveled halfway 'round the world
To find ourselves again
September morn
We danced until the night became a brand new day
Two lovers playing scenes from some romantic play
September morning still can make me feel that way- September Morn, co-written with Gilbert Bécaud
The Jazz Singer (1980)
[edit]Far
We've been traveling far
Without a home
But not without a star.Free,
Only want to be free.
We huddle close;
Hang on to a dream.
Home,
Don't it seem so far away?
Oh, we're traveling light today,
In the eye of the storm.
In the eye of the storm.Home,
To a new and a shiny place.
Make our bed and we'll say our grace.
Freedom's light burning warm.
Freedom's light burning warm.- America
On the Way to the Sky (1981)
[edit]- Yesterday's songs
Don't stay around long,
Not much anymore.
Yesterday's words
Don't make themselves heard
Like they did before.
Heartlight (1982)
[edit]- Turn on your heartlight;
Let it shine wherever you go.
Let it make a happy glow
For all the world to see.
Turn on your heartlight
In the middle of a young boy's dream.
Don't wake me up too soon.
Gonna take a ride across the moon,
You and me.- Heartlight, co-written with Burt Bacharach and Carol Bayer Sayer
