Neil Diamond turns 74 today. I had the great fortune to interview him a couple of months ago. Below is a snippet; Ill post the full interview when its published (hopefully soon): Do you feel fortunate it was “Solitary Man” that put you on the map, helped establish a persona? It did help establish a persona, but more importantly it made me think about the meaning of these songs I was writing. Before then I never felt the songs had anything to do with me. I thought of them as just words and music—things I put together. “Solitary Man” was my first record to chart. The obvious question became, “Are you a solitary man?” I laughed the question off for quite a while because I didn’t feel it was relevant. But of course it was very relevant. That song was a self-portrait, within the music, but I didn’t recognize I was doing that for the first six months or so. I was just writing songs. Did that discovery change your approach? There are lots of things you learn along the way. That was one of them. Songs are reflections of the writer, even if that’s not always obvious. There’s emotional content that’s reflective of the person who’s creating the song. That question about “Solitary Man” stopped me in my tracks. I never saw myself as a solitary person. I was just your average guy. I hung out with my friends and did what normal people do. It made me think about myself—who I was and how these songs related to me. That said, while I’m writing, and in that actual process, I’m not thinking in those terms. I’m not thinking, “Okay, this is about me and a girl I once dated.” It just comes out of my mouth and I put it down on paper. It’s only after I finish a song, and then look at it and think about it a bit, that I can identify parts that are me. It’s not in the front of my mind while I’m writing.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 03:59:37 +0000
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