Sunday June 12, 2022 "You Got to Me" Neil Diamond
I always liked Neil Diamond but we unfortunately parted ways when he got to Jonathan Livingston Seagull and duets with Barbra Streisand. In the world of breakups I am going to put the full blame on him, because I certainly didn't change...or maybe that's the problem.
Raised in Brooklyn, Diamond (his real name) went to Erasmus High School which he attended at the same time as Barbra Streisand and although they did not know each other at that time, later in their carers he would have a top ten single on a duet with her with “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”. The song was actually put together by a DJ who heard both versions done by the individual artists and patched them together.
When Diamond entered NYU he was studying to be a doctor. He had a fencing scholarship and was a part of the 1960 NCAA Fencing Team…how does a kid from Broolyn become a fencer!?
He has said that he wrote that annoying but ever so popular earworm “Sweet Caroline” for his second wife Marcia but he needed a three syllable name to fit the song…”so good, so good, so good”. OK, maybe not really,
Diamond has sold more than 130 million records and is the only artist to score a top twenty record in each of the five decades that the the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart has existed. Neil Diamond is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he was an honoree at the Kennedy Center Honors, and he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.
He also has a Razzie Award for Worst Actor for his performance in the very forgettable 1980 remake of The Jazz Singer.
Stay safe and well…and today’s song is early Neil Diamond when we had a positive musical relationship…before the break-up.