{"id":12879,"date":"2015-01-26T00:07:51","date_gmt":"2015-01-26T07:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=12879"},"modified":"2015-02-25T11:24:04","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T18:24:04","slug":"neil-diamond-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2015\/01\/neil-diamond-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Neil Diamond"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h1>\n

\"Neil-Diamond-4-Issue-No38\"Road Scholar<\/h1>\n

With his latest, Melody Road<\/i>, pop legend\u00a0Neil Diamond proves every song is\u00a0<\/b>a learning experience<\/b><\/p>\n

Neil Diamond has been writing songs for 50 years, so you might think it comes easy. Not so. Although melodies spring forth almost magically\u2014\u201cIf I have a natural gift, that\u2019s it,\u201d he says\u2014lyrics remain his bane. \u201cIt\u2019s grunt work, requiring huge amounts of patience, diligence and focus. It\u2019s ditch-digging, and unfortunately the ditch I\u2019m digging is inside me.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the effort has paid off handsomely. Diamond\u2019s achievements are staggering: 17 Top 10 albums, 12 Top 10 singles, 13 Grammy nominations, and more than 125 million albums sold. In 2011, Diamond was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That same year, he was honored by the prestigious Kennedy Center. \u201cIt used to surprise me, the way some of the songs would connect with people,\u201d he says. \u201cBut after a while you realize you\u2019re hitting on some pretty common themes. I\u2019m not surprised anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diamond\u2019s songwriting efforts began in the mid-1950s. Growing up in Brooklyn he took guitar and piano lessons in his early teens, in part to overcome shyness. His fifth song, an Everly Brothers-style ballad titled \u201cBlue Destiny,\u201d marked a turning point. \u201cIt was about love lost,\u201d he recalls, \u201cpretty deep for a 16-year-old. But there was an emotional connection made\u2014and it\u2019s still that same connection I look for with every song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diamond enrolled at New York University intent on entering the medical field\u2014but music beckoned, and in his junior year he dropped out and landed a job as a staff songwriter on Tin Pan Alley for $50 a week. Success came in 1965 with a tune titled \u201cSunday and Me,\u201d a Top 20 hit for Jay and the Americans. But it was a series of Diamond compositions recorded by the Monkees\u2014especially the 1966 smash, \u201cI\u2019m a Believer\u201d\u2014that established him as a bona fide hit-maker. \u201cBy then I had seven years of professional writing under my belt,\u201d he says. \u201cTill then the songs hadn\u2019t been very good. I hadn\u2019t yet learned to put myself into the material.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putting himself into his material meant combining a singular gift for songwriting with an equally singular voice, resulting in a juggernaut of success. \u201cSolitary Man,\u201d \u201cSong Sung Blue,\u201d \u201cI Am\u2026I Said,\u201d \u201cCracklin\u2019 Rosie,\u201d \u201cLove on the Rocks,\u201d \u201cSweet Caroline,\u201d and \u201cKentucky Woman\u201d are just a sampling of Diamond compositions that have become irreplaceable threads in the fabric of American music.<\/p>\n

Even when record sales slowed in the late \u201980s and early \u201990s, the artist remained a dynamic performer, his sellout shows drawing legions of self-described \u201cDiamond Heads.\u201d And in the past decade, two stark records made with maverick producer Rick Rubin\u20142005\u2019s 12 Songs<\/i> and 2008\u2019s Home Before Dark<\/i>\u2014have only further affirmed his relevance as a contemporary force.<\/p>\n

Diamond\u2019s latest, Melody Road<\/i>, deftly blends the big, vibrant flavor of his best-known songs with the stripped down eloquence of his work with Rubin. Produced by Don Was and Jacknife Lee, the songs explore family, nostalgia and romance. Diamond, who married for the third time in 2012, spent 18 months writing and refining the material before entering the studio. No one, including his wife, was allowed to hear the songs until they were complete.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no better inspiration than being in love,\u201d he muses. \u201cIt\u2019s what you dream of as a creative person. I\u2019m very strict with myself now, because I\u2019m the only one who\u2019s looking over my shoulder. Each song is a puzzle, and I stay with them as they make incremental advances toward completion.\u201d<\/p>\n

High points include \u201cSomething Blue,\u201d a rollicking, exultant tune that captures the essence of newfound love, \u201cSeongah and Jimmy,\u201d a beautifully orchestrated celebration of marriage that doubles as a paean to Diamond\u2019s native Brooklyn, and \u201cSunny Disposition,\u201d an infectious slice of pop-rock that fully lives up to its title. Diamond leaves it to others to assess the album\u2019s themes, but he\u2019s hardly sanguine about the record\u2019s place among his body of work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s a positive or negative album I don\u2019t know,\u201d says Diamond, 74. \u201cThat\u2019s up for interpretation. But I think it\u2019s one of the best records I\u2019ve made, certainly one of the top five or 10 albums of my career. There was a lot of digging involved, and I\u2019m very satisfied with my singing. I hope people love it for years, but I\u2019m not stopping to pat myself on the back. I\u2019ll be onto the next album soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you have a specific goal in mind?<\/b><\/p>\n

I went into this record hoping to tell a story. That was basically it. Generally the stories are about my life\u2014my experiences or observations or conclusions I\u2019ve reached. The title track was really the jumping-off point. It set the boundaries and gave me an outline, a direction to proceed. From that point I started getting ideas for the songs together. Some of the ideas go back a ways, but all the songs are newly written.<\/p>\n

What did Don Was and Jacknife Lee bring?<\/b><\/p>\n

They brought in musicians they liked, people they had worked with before. They also collaborated with one another. It\u2019s the first time I had worked that way\u2014with two producers working on the same songs. They got along really well, found common areas to work in.<\/p>\n

Did your previous work with Rick Rubin lead you to dig deep?<\/b><\/p>\n

I always try to do that, dig deep into the heart of a song. And I try harder with every attempt at something like this. It\u2019s an ongoing process, a developing process. Even after 50 years I still feel like a songwriter-in-training. It keeps me nervous, 24\/7. Every song is different, an adventure, a leap into the unknown. I feel new to the process every time.<\/p>\n

Do you bounce ideas off anyone?<\/b><\/p>\n

Not really. Songwriting, for me, is almost completely solitary\u2014unless I\u2019m collaborating, which is a whole other ball of wax. I love collaboration\u2014it\u2019s fun, you have someone to complain to and talk to\u2014but I haven\u2019t felt the desire to do that in many years. These songs are all solitary endeavors. They\u2019re all about digging inside myself and finding new things to say, or finding new ways to say old things.<\/p>\n

\"Neil-Diamond-2-Issue-No38\"<\/p>\n

Recall your first song?<\/b><\/p>\n

I had a girlfriend whose birthday was coming up. I didn\u2019t have any money, but of course I wanted to give her a gift. I had my guitar and knew enough to play a chord sequence\u2014I had just learned to play an A-minor to go along with the C and F and G chords. That\u2019s all I really needed back then. So I wrote a little something to her. I had no idea what I was doing, although I had always loved music and always loved to sing. There was no particular technique involved. It was a pretty shabby excuse for a song, but she seemed to like it. And after I did it once I began to think, \u201cCan I do this again?\u201d So I did.<\/p>\n

What was the title?<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cHear Them Bells.\u201d As I look back, it was basically about getting married. It was a little presumptuous of me, but I wasn\u2019t thinking much about what it meant. I wasn\u2019t trying to tell a story or ask for her hand or anything. It was just the first thing that came to mind, something I was able to shape into some kind of form and sing for her.<\/p>\n

What made \u201cSolitary Man\u201d significant?<\/b><\/p>\n

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\u2014things I put together. \u201cSolitary Man\u201d was my first record to chart. The obvious question became, \u201cAre you a solitary man?\u201d I laughed the question off for quite a while because I didn\u2019t feel it was relevant. But of course it was very relevant. That song was a self-portrait within the music, but I didn\u2019t recognize I was doing that for the first six months or so. I was just writing songs.<\/p>\n

Did that discovery <\/b>affect your approach?<\/b><\/p>\n

Songs are reflections of the writer, even if that\u2019s not always obvious. There\u2019s emotional content that\u2019s reflective of the person who\u2019s creating the song. That question about \u201cSolitary Man\u201d stopped me in my tracks. I never saw myself as a solitary person. I was just your average guy. It made me think about who I was and how these songs related to me. That said, while I\u2019m writing, I\u2019m not thinking, \u201cOK, this is about me and a girl I once dated.\u201d It just comes out of my mouth and I put it down on paper. It\u2019s only after I finish a song that I can think about it a bit, and identify parts that are me.<\/p>\n

How does it feel when someone tells you a song changed their life?<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s incredibly flattering. I feel good about the idea that I can have that sort of positive effect. But it\u2019s really more than I can deal with. I can only say, \u201cThank you,\u201d and then try and get onto the next song.<\/p>\n

Still, it must be gratifying.<\/b><\/p>\n

It is gratifying. All of this is gratifying. None of it was expected or anticipated, none of it was planned for or even dreamed of. The simple fact that people are interested makes the experience gratifying. It\u2019s just that when I\u2019m writing, I\u2019m not paying attention to these things. I\u2019m trying to express myself through music and lyrics. How these things develop and where they lead is an unknown quantity. It\u2019s an amazing experience to get feedback from people who have been moved by a song, people who might want to know what I meant by a certain line. Usually I\u2019m not sure what I meant. I\u2019m paying attention to what it feels like, not what it means. I\u2019m not acting in the role of a journalist. I\u2019m acting as a poet or as an observer. The rest is up to the listener.<\/p>\n

\"Neil-Diamond-3-Issue-No38\"<\/p>\n

Do you have a go-to guitar?<\/b><\/p>\n

I have three or four favorites. I\u2019ll try one during the sessions\u2014see how it works\u2014and if it\u2019s not working for me I\u2019ll move on to another. I have a Gibson J series I bought a few years ago, an early \u201950s acoustic I especially like. It\u2019s got a wonderful sound for certain kinds of rhythmic things. And I have two or three Martin acoustics as well. One is quite small, a Martin my son lent me that\u2019s more than 100 years old. I\u2019m not sure of the model but it\u2019s a wonderful guitar. I wrote most of the songs I did with Rick Rubin on that guitar. The fact that it was ancient made it even more interesting. The sound was different from any guitar I had played before.<\/p>\n

How do you create a classic tune?<\/b><\/p>\n

First, there\u2019s luck. I would put that right at the top of the list. The process of taking a melodic idea, shaping it into a song and then getting it to the ears of the public, where people can hear it enough times to decide whether or not they like it\u2014all of that involves an element of chance. Beyond that, it\u2019s got to have heart and it\u2019s got to say things people want to hear again and again. It also helps if it\u2019s a little different from anything people have heard. But really, you have to be lucky. Just as we require some luck to live a long life, a song needs some luck to be born and survive into old age. People should never discount the value of luck in any endeavor.<\/p>\n

Is it hard keeping old material fresh?<\/b><\/p>\n

Not if the songs are good. Every time I perform it\u2019s with a different audience, and I\u2019m in a different frame of mind. Each time feels like an entirely different experience, entirely different circumstances. Of course the song has to have substance. You can\u2019t go out and do jingles and expect to be moved. I\u2019m genuinely turned on emotionally by my music. If a song doesn\u2019t do that for me, then it goes out of the set. It\u2019s imperative for me to be affected by what I\u2019m singing. I can\u2019t do it in an emotional vacuum.<\/p>\n

How do you put together a set list?<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019m fortunate to have a big reservoir to draw from\u2014lots of songs with a variety of emotional content. That offers lots of options. I can pull out any song I feel like doing and shape it so that it\u2019s right for the performance. One of my favorite things about performing is the immediate response. An audience either likes something or they don\u2019t\u2014they\u2019re either involved or they aren\u2019t. By the time I finish a song onstage I know whether I\u2019ll do it again. It\u2019s survival of the fittest. Or I might decide to work on a song, shape it differently for live performance. The audience is boss. It\u2019s up to them whether to accept a song. That\u2019s the unspoken contract, whether I\u2019m doing a show or making a record.<\/p>\n

Do you think about your legacy?<\/b><\/p>\n

Honestly I\u2019ve been running so fast, and been so focused, I haven\u2019t had a chance to sit back and pat myself on the back. I\u2019m on to the next song. Life is short and it\u2019s getting shorter. I don\u2019t have time to dilly-dally around and congratulate myself. I\u2019m lucky to still be making my life and career in music. That\u2019s all I wanted to do from the beginning, and I succeeded. Maybe on my deathbed I\u2019ll think about those things. I\u2019ll have all my recordings around me and have them play on a loop, and go out in a very slow fade with a smile on my face.\u00a0 M<\/p>\n

By Russell Hall<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Road Scholar With his latest, Melody Road, pop legend\u00a0Neil Diamond proves every song is\u00a0a learning experience Neil Diamond has been writing songs for 50 years, so you might think it comes easy. Not so. Although melodies spring forth almost magically\u2014\u201cIf I have a natural gift, that\u2019s it,\u201d he says\u2014lyrics remain his bane. \u201cIt\u2019s grunt work, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4835,23],"tags":[7531,1176,7533,7532],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12879"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12879"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13636,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12879\/revisions\/13636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}