Knackelflerg, that tiny word...

Today's Neil Diamond song is a rather silly one. It's "Knackelflerg," from the 1968 "Velvet Gloves and Spit" album. You may find the somewhat strange lyrics here.
Hmm...now what, exactly, is this song about. It seems to me that Neil had some extra letters kicking around and he formed them into a nonsense word and built a song around it. It is, at its heart, a love song. Of sorts.

That is, if you consider "the silly way you hold my klarg/when I'm alone with only you" love song lyrics. *I* think it's just a goofy song that Neil threw together and just had fun with. You can tell it through the recording that he's enjoying himself singing this song. Plus, it's got a bouncy tune, and some nifty accompanying vocals.

But I think it's just a love song, or perhaps just a song of affection. Or maybe it's obscene (the "when I see that boop of yours" lyric. What's a "boop?" Is he covering something up? Perhaps a dirty word?) I don't think so, but it's possible. He is a clever guy, after all.

So what's the verdict? Well, I think it's just a goofy love song with a weirdo title and that there's not much else to it. That's my two cents. If you agree (or disagree) please comment! Thanks...Till next time...

Talking Optimist Blues (Good Day Today)

Well, I've moved servers and am ready to start the blog afresh! As you can tell, I've moved the previous blogs from the other site so you can enjoy them on this one.  But enough of that---on to today's song!

For today, I decided to choose a song off of Neil Diamond's 1996 "Tennessee Moon" album, an album of mainly country-westernish songs. The lyrics for today's song can be found here, for those who like to follow along.

First off, I'd like to say that when this song came out, a lot of Top-40 radio stations would play it here and there, a place where Neil Diamond hadn't been for a long time. As a rabid fan, I took great pride in this. And the reason that the song was played on such stations was because it's a genuinely fun song! You can tell Neil's having fun throughout.

What the song is, is basically a guy complaining about everything in his life, but then saying "the hell with it" and turning all the bad into a "good day today." The way I interpret it is that it's a loving parody of your "typical" country-western song, where the wife leaves and the dog dies and the guy just can't catch a break, even his "hairline's gone."

If you take a look at the lyrics, and listen to the song, the last verse is fairly personal for Neil Diamond. I'll repeat some of it here, it's that relevant- "letter came from 60 Minutes/say they wanna put me in it/tell me my career just died/years ago I might've cried/now I'm just too old to do it/may be true but screw it anyway." He then goes on to sing that he's going to have a good day today, despite all the crap.

I think Neil might've been feeling a bit stale creatively at this point in his career. He even references it in the title track of this album. And I do recall reading somewhere that he did just pick up and go to Tennessee to shake things up a bit. And I think he did a pretty good job at it. And, according to my research, the album peaked at #3 on the US Billboard Top Country Albums. Not too shabby for a kid from Brooklyn, eh?

So if you do have the song handy, take a listen to it. You can't help but feel good during and after listening to it.

As always, I welcome comments and discussion! Would love to hear from you!  Till next time...

Take A Walk, You Can Hardly Breathe The Air (I'm Alive)

Today’s song is “I’m Alive,” off of Neil’s 1982 “Heartlight” album. You can find the full lyrics here.

Despite its bleak opening lyrics, “I’m Alive” is an uplifting song. It’s all about how, even though there are a lot of things to be discouraged about, there is still one great thing to be thankful for – that you’re living and able to appreciate and see all the good things that life has to offer.

It’s a very simple song, musically (I believe,) but it contains a powerful message. Especially, for me, the part that talks about the Hollywood hookers. Diamond contrasts the loneliness and emptiness of that with the fact that there’s a “flower on every street,” meaning that even in the muck there is beauty that can be found. And it attributes this to finding someone who was able to make the singer’s eyes open to the beauty and goodness that is all around them.

Apparently, ”I’m Alive” was inspired by the sense of dread riding with Bacharach to the studios on Sunset Boulevard, which, in 1982, was certainly not the best of neighborhoods to be driving through. It has since improved, though there’s still the occasional hooker. But you have to look for ‘em.

This is an especially fun song to sing. It’s easy to play on (acoustic) guitar, and it has a nice build-up to the chorus, where the song reminds us that the singer hasn’t got any tolerance for “words of doom,” but instead has a lot of space for love. Like I mentioned earlier, despite the bleak and, some might say, depressing lyrics (outside of the chorus,) the song is a hopeful one.

This is one of those songs that not a lot of people know, but that Neil sometimes sings in concert. I think that once people do indeed hear it, they become fans of the song, because it is pretty catchy.

More tomorrow!

September Morn...

For today’s song, I chose Neil Diamond’s “September Morn,” from his 1979 album of the same name. Lyrics are here.  It was the only real single off of the album, and has become a staple at Neil Diamond concerts.

This song is, at its heart, a love song. About someone who hasn’t seen the object of their affection for a long time, hence the “it’s been so long I hardly knew you” lyric.

The one thing that puzzles me about this song is how old the people are. I’m assuming it’s a May-December romance (ie, an older person-younger person romance.) Why? Because it has the lyric “why you’ve become a grown up girl/I still can hear you crying/in the corner of your room.” But if it’s such a May-December romance, it gets kinda creepy, I think. But I don’t think it’s all that bad really, because it’s couched in such lovely lyrics.

OR--could it possibly be about THIS "September Morn?" I wonder...

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today.  Until next time!

Song Sung Blue

[Originally published January 25, 2012]


Today’s song is “Song Sung Blue,” from Neil Diamond’s 1972 “Moods” album. Lyrics may be found here.

This is a very simple song, which talks about the fact that everyone feels blue now and again, and that there’s a song to fit that feeling. But it says it in interesting ways, like when it says, “every garden grows one.”  One interesting thing about this song is that it has no bridge in the middle of it. According to a book I read about Neil Diamond, he said that he simply didn’t feel the song needed one, and indeed it doesn’t – it’s good just the way it is. Another fun thing about the song is that it is one of only two #1 songs that Neil’s ever had. It was a song you couldn’t escape from when it was released.

I can remember when I performed this song in a coffee house during my freshman year of college. As soon as I sang the first three words (the song’s title,) it was greeted with ahhhs of recognition and a smattering of applause because it was one of those “comfort” songs that everyone knew. It had “been there” throughout there lives and got them feeling good. For, to paraphrase the song, they simply got no choice.

The song was also covered in 1980 by another favorite of mine, Frank Sinatra, on his “Trilogy” album, in a big-band-y, swing style. This version, incidentally, was the first version I ever heard.

Well, that’s it for today. It’s my birthday today and I’ve got to run…but I welcome your comments and thoughts on “Song Sung Blue!”

Smokey Lady...

Today’s song is “Smokey Lady,” a song written by Neil Diamond and recorded in 1969, on the “Touching You, Touching Me” album. Despite the album’s title, the song “Sweet Caroline” does not appear on the album.

Now, what’s this song all about? The lyrics are here, so you can follow along.

I used to think this song was about someone getting a hooker for an evening (really!) and having it go way wrong. But the more I listened to the song, the less I agreed with myself on that.  Upon further listening and reflection, it seems to me that this song is about the power of infatuation, especially for someone we may not know all that much about, hence the term “smokey lady.”

I go the infatuation route because of lines like “spend your time making full grown men full grown babies,” which I take to mean that this woman, this smokey lady, has had such a powerful pull over the singer that he’s lost all of his adult faculties and become a drooling infant over her.  It’s something that I think most of us can relate to – being so infatuated with someone that we lose ourselves in them.

One other reason I initially thought of the “hooker” reference was that he says, “I been settling/’cause I been getting/what I ain’t had lately,” and my mind just went to sex – involuntarily. But after I thought about it, I realized that it must be that he’s getting something fulfilling from this woman, be it sex or mental stimulation. But whatever it is, it’s making our singer go slightly out of his head for her. As the line “run behind me/run before me/where’re you goin?” points out, she’s running circles around him, and he can’t quite keep up.

So, this could be one of those songs that somewhat defies meaning, but in reality I don’t think you have to dig too too deep to figure out what this song is about. There’s a lot of shouting in this song, too, which makes it a great stress-buster to sing along with! Though I will say from personal experience that it’s hard on one’s throat…

Until next time…

Come Sleep With Me Tonight...

For today’s song, I thought I’d choose one of my all-time favorite Neil Diamond songs, “Sleep With Me Tonight.”  The song was released in 1984 on the “Primitive” album, one of his least successful albums of the ’80s, at least as far as having a recognizable (by most people) single on it. But it still remains one of my favorites.

The lyrics are here.

When I first got this album as a teenager, I thought this was rather a provocative title for a song, for to me,  ”sleep with me” meant “have sex with me.” So I was rather interested to see how randy Neil Diamond would get on this song. I was not disappointed. Not because the song’s lascivious and lewd, but because it’s so beautiful. As a matter of fact, there’s nothing scandalous about it.

The song is about someone trying for a second chance at love with someone with whom he’s screwed things up with before. There they are, together one evening, perhaps having dinner or just visiting each other, as exes will sometimes do. But this is different. The singer feels that there’s love yet to be had, and tells his beloved as much. One gets the idea that it’s somewhat of a mutual thing, as the line “but here we are/together again” gives us somewhat of a peek into the dynamic, letting us know that it’s not an accident.

As the song crecendos, the title line is sung, more or less – “can I sleep with you tonight/let’s try it again/for one last time/all the rest of our lives” and we know here that the singer’s intent is not to have a quickie, but to really, genuinely BE with this other person for good. In my opinion, sleeping with someone, just sleeping, is one of the most intimate acts one can perform, as it lays you out completely as you are, warts and all, to the other person with whom you’re sleeping. And that is what the singer wants to do. Sure, he knows he’s messed up before (“what’s been done is done now”) but wants to get things back to the loving ways that they were before. And yes, there is a hint of sex here, in “let’s you and me be one,” but it’s not a pornographic sex. Rather, it’s something to be cherished and used as a bonding agent to bring them closer to each other.

The fade away is perhaps my favorite part. “Come sleep with me and stay/till tomorrow/or maybe forever/just stay…” This is the part that I put on a mix tape for my partner – and the part of the song that gets him teary-eyed. It is really a beautiful song, about love that’s been lost but is right on the razor’s edge of being found again. If you’d like to see a puppet of mine performing this song, you may watch it here. It’s worth a look.

Incidentally, I just discovered that Patti LaBelle covered the song. Nice!

Well, until next time!

Happy Birthday, Solitary Man!

[Originally published on January 24, 2012]

Welcome to the first post in my Neil Diamond song-a-day discussion and tribute blog. I’ve been a huge Neil Diamond fan for many, many years now, and it seems only fitting to have some place to talk about his songs and what they mean to us, and what they mean in general, sometimes.  I’m doing this to bring all Neil Diamond fans (and we know they are legion, and fiercely faithful) together to discuss the music we all know and love. It’ll make me listen to at least one Neil Diamond song per day, which is hardly a chore, and reflect on it and talk about it.  Along the way I’ll also add some non-sequitors to keep things interesting and lively.  For facts, I’ll be relying on some internet research, and for feelings, well, I’ll be relying on myself for those. Some will be long, others not so long. I suppose it’ll all depend on my mood that day, the song itself, and how deep of a song it is. For it’s easier to go to great lengths to discuss the complexity of a fine wine than it is to talk about the “nose” of a fruit punch. So let us begin!

And what better day to do this than on January 24th, Neil Diamond’s birthday. He’ll be 71 this year, and shows no signs of slowing down; no signs of disappointing any of his fans.  So here we begin.  Happy Birthday, Neil!

I’ve chosen “Solitary Man” as the first song to talk about because it was Neil’s “first”- his first big solo hit. The song was originally released in 1966 under the Bang record label. You can find the lyrics here.

This song speaks of a man who has gone through loves and loss, and vows to remain single until such time as he can find someone who will be faithful to him. I think that this sentiment, this persona, has somewhat followed Neil throughout his career – him as being alone, solitary, amongst others. After all, Neil Diamond has always been there in the popular culture, though sometimes not as prominently as others. But he has never really had a great “coolness factor” that other, similar artists have been able to cultivate. I’m thinking here of Elton John and Billy Joel, to name two.  He’s done many ballads, for sure, but he’s also done a lot of rock-and-roll songs as well, both penned by him and cover songs. I’ve always wondered why he never rose in the “coolness” charts. Was it because he wasn’t cool? Not by any means. I think it was more due to the fact that he followed his own inner guide, and sang/wrote the songs that he wanted or felt the need to do.  So it’s no wonder that he wasn’t always at the Top of the Pops, as it were, like some other artists. Yet, unlike many other artists, he didn’t flame out and go away. His songs remained, many firmly ingrained in the popular mindset. And that is what is so fascinating about Neil Diamond. He didn’t veer from his course and get sucked into flashy trends and fads, yet still he remained ever popular.

And so, it is with this first song, “Solitary Man,” that we begin our journey through the Neil Diamond song collection. I hope you’ll enjoy the journey as much as I’m sure I will. Until we meet again, I’ll be what I am, a solitary man.

Sweet Caroline, Good Times Never Seemed So Good

Today’s song is the wildly popular “Sweet Caroline,” a song officially released in 1969 as a single. Lyrics are here.  It is one of those Neil Diamond songs that EVERYONE knows, even if they’ve no idea that it’s a Neil Diamond song. It’s played at Boston’s Fenway Park every seventh-inning-stretch, with the whole crowd enthusiastically singing along. Especially to the “good times never seemed so good (so good! so good! so good!)” part. As a matter of fact Neil Diamond himself sang an abridged version at Fenway Park’s 2010 opening night, much to the delight of the fans.

The song has inspired mystery, too. “Who is Caroline?” people would wonder. Well, in December 2011, Neil told a morning news show that “Caroline” was none other than Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy. He said it was inspired by a picture of the then 11 year-old Caroline with her parents, and the song just took shape from there.  For true, die-hard, hard-core, freakishly nitpicky Neil Diamond fans (such as myself,) there’s an interesting bit of trivia to be had regarding this. In his 1986 “Hello Again” television special, he was asked by fellow entertainer Stevie Wonder, “Was there a Sweet Caroline?” to which Diamond replies, “I’ll never tell.” It’s just being a dork on my part but let the record state that he did indeed tell. Not that it bothers me…I just wanted to show off my knowledge of Neil Diamond minutiae. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the song.

On its surface, it’s a sort of love song (without being overtly so) to someone named Caroline who changed the singer’s life in a very positive way. And it’s one of those “I can’t remember how long we’ve been together it’s been so long” type of relationships, hence the “where it began, I can’t begin to knowin’” lyric. It’s about someone who takes comfort in this Caroline person, someone who was sad before meeting her but now, “how can I hurt when holding you” is the phrase that best describes the situation.

Now one thing that perplexes me is this– in the second verse, does he sing “warm, touching warm” or “one, touching one?”  I forever thought it was “warm,” but now as I comb through various interpretations of the lyrics, they all say “one.” Is this mass hysteria on their part, with me being the one correct for all these years? I would like to think so. I would also like to hear what you think, too.

Incidentally, this song has been covered by everyone from Frank Sinatra (on his “Some Nice Things I’ve Missed” album”) to punk band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.  And dammit, it’s one of those songs that just makes one feel good. And if you’ve ever seen Neil Diamond in concert, you know what an amazing thing it is to hear everyone sing the “bom-bom-bom” part at the top of their voices. And if you don’t know what that part is, you must be living in the back of a closet underneath a swatch of avocado-green shag carpet. Not that that’s a bad thing.  I hear it’s making a comeback…

Till next time!