" Song By Song " with Neil Diamond

From the information Booklet with the album "In My Lifetime"

"The first song I ever wrote on a piano. I played all the instruments on this demo… because I worked cheap"

A Good Kind Of Lonely (Demo recorded 1959)

"One of the series of demos I did in my second year of songwriting. I was just finding my way, trying to figure out what made a good song. ‘A good kind of lonely’ is pretty representative of that period – a simple beginner’s song. It’s nothing original, just me getting familiar with the act of writing and singing"

At Night (Recorded 1963)

"In 1962 , Columbia Records signed me for one single release. That was me trying to be Neil Sedaka on the

‘A’ side. And not even coming close"

And The Grass Won’t Pay No Mind (recorded 1969)

From the album "Brother Love’s travelling Salvation show

"This song was pure stream of consciousness, written more to capture a moment in time than to tell a story. I still like the way it feels to sing this song"

America (recorded 1980 )

From the album ‘The Jazz Singer’

"One from the heart for my grandparents who made the journey and passed on the folklore of it to their grandchildren. I am just passing it on to my kids and theirs"

"This was originally for an album called "The story of my life" that never came out, except for the title song. It was an album that Columbia was not in love with, so eventually I scrapped it and waited for the next inspiration to come along. There was a lot of personal stuff on this album, some written after the death of my father, some about our relationship. "Angel above my head" tells my own story of trying to cope with my father’s passing and trying to remember what he told me about going on. It’s definitely a personal song that touches a very sad nerve for me. My parents always supported me in whatever I did, whether it was music, fencing or school. I think that ‘s important. I miss him a lot

Brooklyn Roads (recorded 1968)

From the album Velvet Gloves and Spit

"I had just signed with MCA Records and wanted to stretch my creative wings. This is the most literal and personal story I had written up to this point. ‘Brooklyn Roads’ told of my youth and my aspirations. I loved the freedom of being able to write something without the charts in mind"

Beautiful Noise (recorded 1975)

From the Beautiful Noise album

" I had booked my usual suite at the Sherry Netherlands hotel on Manhatten’s fifth Avenue . My daughter Marjorie and Elyn were staying with me along with my parents. One afternoon there was a large and tuneful Puerto Rican Day parade just a few floors below our window. I remember we had been drawing and colouring pictures together and going back and forth to see the parade. Suddenly Marjorie, momentarily, distracted from her art work, said "what a beautiful noise Dad." The phrase struck me immediately as a possible song title for a new album I was

starting with Robbie Robertson about my experiences as a young writer in Tin Pan Alley. I said to the kids, "Hey that could be a song, let’s write it after dinner when grandma and grandpa get here." That evening we sat down with a small cassette recorder and my ever present guitar and put the sounds of a city and the dreams of a songwriter into that one song. When I returned home to California I played the song for Robbie and he caught on immediately. It was the first song written for the Beautiful Noise album and really put us on the right track for the story we wanted to tell"

Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show (recorded 1969)

From the album Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show

" I was on my way south to Memphis to record there for the first time. I was so excited that on the plane I wrote an entirely new set of lyrics (my second airplane song lyric) to a song I had already written. The story of "Brother love ‘ demanded its own place in those sessions and was recorded the following day with nary a change in lyric. This recording became a hit and was to make a showman out of me. How could you not let go of your inhibitions when playing such a wonderful character?"

Blue Destiny (demo recorded 1958)

This was the first song that had an emotional effect on me, The others were just words and music that started at the same time and ended at the same time and maybe had some pretty things in them. I know this was my fifth song because I had a mental note to try and keep doing whatever I was doing on ‘Blue Destiny.’ For me it had a uniqueness and an honest that made me feel as though I could be a real writer at some point’

Clown Town (recorded May 1963)

I included this one only because the lyric was written in sociology class at New York University. This was my attempt to rewrite Elvis’ ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ I got a C in the course. I give the song about the same grade."

Cherry Cherry (recorded 1966)

"Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and I were sitting around a small office at Bang Records talking about material for my first session for the label. I began to play a guitar lick which caught Jeff’s ear. His positive reaction made me go home and finish ‘Cherry Cherry’ We all went into Dick Charles’ studio and recorded a pared-down demo version. Jeff and Ellie sang the background parts, I sang and played the guitar, and Artie Butler played the piano and Hammond organ. I forgot who played bass but bless him anyway. We over dubbed some hand claps and a few other rhythm things ( never used a drum) and used that demo as the basis for an ‘official’ recording with horns, voices and drums. Although the big version had lots of energy, it lacked the simplicity and groove of the demo. So the demo was released as my second single on Bang. Both versions are included here – the demo was the big hit and a major commercial kick off to my career. I think we made the right choice."

Cracklin’ Rosie (recorded 1970)

From the album ‘Tap Root Manuscript’

" The story of an Indian reservation in Canada inspired this song. On this reservation there were more men than women. On Saturday night those men left alone would buy a bottle of Crackling Rose wine, and that bottle became their woman for the night – The story struck a chord with me and resulted in one of the biggest hits of my career"

Crunchy Granola Suite ( recorded 1971)

From the Stones album

"When I wrote ‘Crunchy Granola Suite’ I was newly transplanted to California and was impressed by the health food consciousness there. I actually thought ‘Crunchy Granola Suite’ might change people’s eating habits!"

Desiree (recorded 1977)

From the album ‘I’m Glad You’re Here With Me Tonight’

"To me it’s a song with a great groove, a cooking record. That’s about it. I wrote it in my beach house there’s definitely some ocean vibes going on in that one"

Dry Your Eyes (recorded 1976)

From the soundtrack to the motion picture "The Last Waltz"

"Dry your eyes was written for the Beautiful Noise album. I started this song, played it for Robbie and he liked it, but it wasn’t finished so I asked him to jump in and help me . It’s memorable to me because it was the first time I’d collaborated with another writer in many years, probably since I first started having hits. It really opened my eyes about co-writing because Robbie and I had a good relationship and I felt if co- writing could be this satisfying, I should do more of it. This version of the song was recorded at ‘The Last Waltz" concert in 1976"

From the album "Tap Root Manuscript"

From the album " You Don’t Bring Me Flowers"

"While we were on the road my lead guitar player Richard Bennett came into my hotel room and started to play this guitar lick that opens the record and I fell in love with it. I knew there was a song in that lick somewhere. I came pretty fast – I started humming some things, and before you knew it, we had it. Or we thought we had it. At the recording session we realized we needed a bridge, quick, so we wrote one then and there. I remains one of my favorite bridges. The message in the song is that the simple things in life are the important things."

Girl,You’ll Be A Woman Soon (recorded 1967)

Hear Them Bells ( recorded 1992

Holly Holy (recorded 1969)

From the album "Touching You… Touching Me"

"This song was brought to me by my record producer at the time, Tom Catalano . It was not exactly commercial according to the standards of the day but it has a universal message that I liked. I just had to record it and I did. A while later the Hollies had a hit with it. But I still feel like we discovered it"

Hello Again (recorded 1980)

"My friend and long time keyboard player Alan Lindgren and I were sitting around drummer Dennis St John’s beach house going over some arrangements. When we were finished Alan began to fool around on the electric piano and hit upon some nice changes, I immediately jumped in with a rough melody and before you knew it we were off and running. The song was originally slated to go into the album ‘September Morn’ but I knew I had the Jazz Singer project coming up and would in need of a strong ballad

I gave Columbia the choice of using ‘September Morn’ or ‘Hello Again’ - they chose ‘September Morn’

Both songs were big hits and fit in their respective albums beautifully. When you’re hot, you’re hot."

"Carole Bayer Sager, Burt Bacharach and I went to see E.T. After the movie, we went to their apartment and came up with a simple musical statement that we all felt very sincerely."

Heaven Can Wait (recorded 1982)

"I’d seen some posters for a new movie coming out called ‘Heaven Can wait’ and thought it was a really good song title. So the next time I was back at the studio I started writing and demo-ing the song. Then I thought ‘What the heck am I doing? It’s not going to be used anywhere.’ So I called Warren Beatty and told him I had a song called "Heaven can Wait" and would he be interested in listening to it. He said okay, though he’d prefer if it didn’t have any words. It was a very last minute kind of thing and it didn’t get in the movie, but now it ‘s finally getting on an album via the original demo."

Headed For The Future ( recorded 1986)

From the album ‘Headed For The Future’

"This record started with the sound of a synthesized anvil and grew into my first mostly synthesized recording. When I listen to it , I hears the sounds of modern society being built. The synthesizer sounds were conceived and executed by my co- writers Alan Lindgren and Tom Hensley. They made me a believer in the use of synthesizers... on occasion."

From the album ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’

"This was a melody I’d played on piano and taught myself over a period of ten years – sort of a

form of piano lesson for me. Eventually I completed the melody as a piano piece and realized that it could be more than that . But it was never meant to be a song, just a pretty thing I played on piano for my own amusement. Eventually it became a song, but that took about fifteen years. It was released as a duet (with Kim Carnes) . I also like the solo version I did before the duet was recorded, so I’ve included it here."

In My Lifetime (recorded 1996)

"It’s a cautionary word of encouragement to my musical descendants. It’s my life and times in a song. And it’s got a good beat."

I Got The Feelin’ (Oh No, No ) (recorded 1966)

"My first attempt to extend the emotional and stylistic range in my voice. The song was pretty basic, but it was a conscious effort to expand my vocal horizons and connect with the song as a singer."

I’m A Believer (recorded 1967)

From the album " Just For You"

"Don Kirshner was looking for material for a new phenomenon he had – The Monkees. Don loved ‘Cherry, Cherry" – then a big hit on radio – so he asked Jeff Barry if I had anything else that his group might like. Jeff and I went over to see Don. I knew I was making it because it was the first time I had ever been invited to this kingmaker’s office. We played my upcoming album version of ‘I’m A Believer’ for Don, who loved it for the group. Jeff and I went out to L.A. and came back with the number one selling single of the year. ‘I’m A Believer’ established me as a writer, ‘Cherry, Cherry’ as… a hit .. artist. Suddenly I was a double threat and hot as a pistol."

I am… I said (recorded 1971)

From the album "Stones"

"Started on the film set of an ill- fated screen test, ‘I am.. I said’ took four months to complete. I knew it had great potential as I was unwilling to accept anything but the raw truth in the lyric. It was a daily battle to put that song and those sentiments on paper, but when it was done, it turned out to be one of the most satisfying songs I had ever written."

I’ve Been This Way Before (recorded 1974)

From the "Serenade’ album

"Actually it was written for Jonathon Livingston Seagull, but I didn’t finish in time for the movie and that’s one of the disappointments about the project. I should have been in the movie, but at least it is presented here along with the ‘Jonathon Livingston Seagull’ songs."

If You Know What I Mean ( recorded 1976)

From the ‘Beautiful Noise’ album

" I felt it was one of my stronger songs, one of the strongest I’d written in a long time. It reflected some of the intensity of the times and the whole songwriting world I had been living in. It is a song about the loss of innocent dreams."

I’m Alive ( recorded 1982)

From the "Heartlight" album

"The nightly trips back and forth from home to Ocean Way Recording Studios on Sunset Boulevard were like scenes out of a Fellini movie. Burt Bacharach, driving his old clunker, made the trip through the underbelly of Hollywood even scarier. I never knew when the car might break down. The song, written with David Foster, is directly related to that sense of dread . But optimism ultimately wins out in this tune."

I’m Sayin’ I’m Sorry ( recorded 1985)

" I’ve always liked this song with its dancing typewriter and happy beat. It hides the pain of the marital discord behind the lyrics."

If There Were No Dreams ( recorded 1991)

From the album "Lovescape"

I stopped by Michael Legrand’s hotel room in L.A. for a pre- arranged writing meeting. After a few hellos, he pulled out a manuscript book and opened it to the first page H then began to play a melodic sketch he had written down. He went through five or six melody ideas before he hit on one that I thought I might help shape into a song. When we finished the first verse, I liked the melody but Michael was even more fascinated by the fact that each line of the verse melody was exactly one note longer than the line before. I though it was weird way to see the song but I had to admit it was interesting. I thought maybe it had to do with his jazz background."

Jonathon Livingston Seagull ( recorded 1973)

From the album " Jonathon Livingston Seagull"

"I was offered the opportunity to write songs for a motion picture based on a huge, phenomenal cult book Jonathon Livingston Seagull, and I didn’t have the vaguest idea how to write songs from a seagull’s point of view. So I turned it down. Then I thought a little more and decide to try it. I figured nobody else had much more insight into writing for a seagull, so why not? I threw myself into that project as completely as I ever had before. It was a spiritual story and I had to understand the spiritual nature of its lead character

before I could write a note. After about six months of studying various spiritual approaches to life, I was able to make my first breakthrough, which became the first written song – ‘Be’ When it finally came to me, I remember feeling very elated. After that, the rest of the songs came relatively easily."

Just need To Love You More ( recorded 1991)

Unissued track from Lovescape sessions

"Don Was (who produced this record) and I both liked this cut and we both hoped to develop it further, but I’m not sure where. Listening to it now, I like just as it is."

Kentucky Woman (recorded 1967)

Longfellow Serenade (recorded 1974)

From the album "Serenade"

"Occasionally I like using a particular lyric style which, in this case, lent itself naturally to telling the story of a guy who woos his woman with poetry."

Love On The Rocks (recorded 1980)

From the album "The Jazz Singer’

Morningside (recorded 1972)

From the "Moods" album

"The story of the song is in the song"

Play Me (recorded 1972)

From the album "Moods"

"I remember having a hard time with ‘Play Me’ because I didn’t know what time signature I wanted before the recording session. Richard Bennett - who played a beautiful guitar figure in

¾ e song at that get- together."time and I realized that was the time signature for that song. ‘Play Me’ would have been an entirely different song in 4/4 time. So it ended up as a waltz, and I guess that’s what the song was meant to be."

Red Red Wine (recorded 1967)

Straw In The Wind (demo recorded 1964)

"This is the demo of a song I wrote with Dion DiMucci in mind. I tried to get a good groove on my guitar and even tried to sing in his style . When I actually played it for him on a bench in Central Park – Dion picked the meeting place – he was very kind but graciously declined recording the song. But he offered encouragement, which I will always appreciate."

Solitary Man (recorded 1966)

"Solitary man was written in my house in Massapequa, Long Island and was inspired by the minor-key of the Beatles' song ‘Michelle,’ which I loved. ‘Solitary Man’ convinced me I’d always been this quiet introverted kid. Then one of my fellow 6^th grade graduates came backstage recently and showed me our 6^th grade graduation book. I was shocked to be reminded that I had been voted ‘Most Cheerful’ That totally shook my whole concept of what I was like as a child. I thought I was a loner and it turns out I was probably a cheerleader. On the other hand, ‘Cheerful Man’ wouldn’t have sounded as good."

Shilo ( recorded 1967)

" This song was my first attempt at creating a fantasy life – in a song, that is. ‘Shilo’ is a feast for psychological interpretation and also the song that ended my relationship with Bang Records, who did not see this as ‘in the Neil Diamond hit mode’ (whatever that might be) ‘Shilo’ wasn’t a huge hit but has lasted as one of my audience’s favourite for almost thirty years. Maybe the audience senses that it really is me talking’

Sweet Caroline (recorded 1969)

From the album "Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show"

"I was in a hotel room in Memphis. I had two songs ready for the next day’s recording session and I needed three. ‘Sweet Caroline’ just seemed to come out of the excitement of the moment. There’s even a chord in the ‘ touching hands’ part that I’d never played before – I learned later it was an A6 chord and it was probably one of the reasons it was such a big hit"

Song Sung Blue (recorded 1972)

From the album "Moods"

"This is one to which I never paid too much attention . A very basic message , unadorned. I didn’t even write a bride to it. I never expected anyone to react to ‘Song Sung Blue’ they way they did. I just liked it, the message and the way a few words said so many things. I recorded the song strictly for that reason. I had no idea it would be a huge hit or that people would want to sing along with it."

September Morn ( recorded 1979)

From the album "September Morn"

"Written with Gilbert Becaud in his apartment in Paris. It was the first time we’d ever sat down to write. He’d been to one of my shows the night before and asked if we could get together for lunch the next day and maybe even do some work. He started playing something that had a romantic sound. I fell for it immediately and we began to play with it. We wrote most of th

See "Love On The Rocks"

From the album "Tap Root Manuscript"

"Originally written for an extended piece(‘The African Trilogy’) , Soolaimon took on a life of its own when it was presented to a live audience. The title is meant to be a variation of the word ‘Salamah’, meaning ‘Hello’ and ‘Welcome’ as well as ‘Good-bye’ and peace be with you’, in many languages."

"This song was written during my early flourish of hitdom. It was one of the first songs reflecting my growing independence – This is the way I am, my boat is tiny and the direction it takes me may not follow the standard routes, but if you like what you see, come along and join me on this journey. My first rebel song."

From the album "Headed for the future"

"I always thought that this would make a good title for an autobiography, but as a songwriter I was drawn to try it as a song and save all the work involved in writing a book. Well, I learned that a song is one thing a book is another. I guess I’ll have to write a book now"

"A rock & roll song with some black music influence. I’ve always been moved by gospel music and ‘Thank The Lord For The Night Time’ is probably as close as this white Jewish kid from Brooklyn could come to being a gospel singer."

"This is a track by Neil and Jack. Jack Packer and I were seniors together at Lincoln High School. Jack was a trained singer and we hit it off – he could sing a harmony line above me on the songs I wrote. To me, that was as close to the Everly Brothers as you could possible get, so we formed a duo that lasted ayear or two. We rehearsed in my basement and we got a recording contract with a label called Duel Records . duel was a subsidiary of a company whose label read ‘Shell Records and Gulf Records, our records are a gas.’ ‘What will I do?’ is an attempt at an up tempo Everly Brothers – type song. It’s not particularly original, but it does show one of the big influences that I was trying to follow.’

"We recorded this song sometime in 1966 and I was really on the road touring by that time> I remember not liking the girls’ vocal part as much as the one we had on the demo and asking Jeff and Ellie to hold the mixing until I got back and could put in my two cents. This was probably my first tentative input into how my records were made and what they sounded like."

(Duet with Barbra Streisand)

From the album "You Don’t Bring Me Flowers"

"I happened to sit near Norman Lear at George burns’ 80^th birthday party, and being cheeky, asked Norman what brilliant new show he had planned that would require and equally brilliant theme song. He mentioned a show he was working on called All That Glitters in which the roles of the males and females are reversed. I suggested a torch song sung by a man He asked if I would mind writing it with Marilyn and Alan Bergman. I was thrilled with the chance to work with these great writers and accepted immediately. The original one minute (exactly) version was not used on the show, but for my next album we made it a complete

song and I recorded it. My Friend Barbra Streisand heard the song, loved it and recorded it for her next album. Because we both recorded it in the same key, radio stations we able to intercut the two versions and make a pretty good sounding ‘duet’ prompting Barbra and me to go into the studio and duet it for real."

From the album "On The Way To The Sky"

"Written in the early eighties when I guess I doubted that any of my early songs would be remembered … UB40 turned to ‘Red Re Wine’ into a reggae hit and Pulp Fiction spotlighted "Girl you’ll be a woman soon"

From the album "Primitive"

"Oy Vey, my grandparents are turning over in their graves. I guess you could call it a Christmas song because it has the idea of "Christmas’ in it. But, it’s a love song really."