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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWhat is your favorite Neil Diamond song?
I truly adore "Love on the Rocks" but there are more that thrill me..."You Don't Bring Me Flowers" and "Hello." The man is terrific...
Donkees
(31,481 posts)lunasun
(21,646 posts)rurallib
(62,465 posts)he did many good ones, but I have always felt this song captures what America is (supposed) to be about better than any other song.
July
(4,751 posts)Immigration, for a time, meant many people who knew little of this country, and who usually had no English ( like my Italian grandfather), felt they had a chance here, despite prejudices of the 19th and early 20th century. What in our policy was different then? People from around the world were immigrating to the U.S., and for the most part were being admitted.
I don't know enough about it to guess why so many were welcomed then, while now everyone seems to be suspected of nefarious objectives.
jpak
(41,760 posts)crazycatlady
(4,492 posts)(My name is Caroline and I'm just sick of people singing it to me).
mikeargo
(675 posts)I never liked "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore."
But I'll sing this song during the seventh inning stretch.
discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,482 posts)Orrex
(63,233 posts)Chasstev365
(5,191 posts)Sedona
(3,769 posts).
TheDebbieDee
(11,119 posts)Chasstev365
(5,191 posts)Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)Here's my personal fave.
Mister Ed
(5,944 posts)Love songs are a dime a dozen. Maybe a dime a million, I don't know. But it took real imagination to write a pop hit about a tent-show revival. Plus he sang it so beautifully and powerfully.
LeftInTX
(25,607 posts)LNM
(1,081 posts)Still gives me goose bumps and I'm an atheist!
Skittles
(153,220 posts)perfection
I too am a longtime fan
IcyPeas
(21,915 posts)discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,482 posts)(no ass kicking required please)
GP6971
(31,226 posts)Holly Holy
WePurrsevere
(24,259 posts)is probably the one that gets me the most...
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)Why were some people so down on him, like he wasn't really all THAT good...
WePurrsevere
(24,259 posts)than he seems to be given credit for.
I know my own admiration for him grew when I stumbled on his Jonathan Livingston Seagull album at the local library. They're all really good but his song Dear Father and Be moved me to tears and were the perfect songs I needed to hear at that moment in my life.
Duppers
(28,127 posts)I cried. It touched me deeply because I could relate - not belonging anywhere, with no one understanding me. There's not a more lonely feeling. Bad times, glad they are over.
I have the vinyl album but haven't listened to it in decades, so thank you for posting.
WePurrsevere
(24,259 posts)that you're at a better place now.
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)Second would be "Coming to America."
WePurrsevere
(24,259 posts)the Hamiliton Mixtape, 'Immigrants (We get the job done)' should be played at every pro-immigration rally.
7wo7rees
(5,128 posts)Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)Neil went off to Africa and came back with a bunch of song ideas inspired by the music he heard there. To my knowledge, I don't think any popular rocker had ever done that before.
oasis
(49,428 posts)Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)But it came out about ten or eleven years after Tap Root Manuscript.
Neil was a trailblazer. As someone else here said, his work is a lot deeper than people give him credit for.
Generic Brad
(14,276 posts)Why has that not been used to sell breakfast cereal? Why?
Glorfindel
(9,739 posts)The man is terrific. I never heard a song of his I didn't like. Thanks for an interesting question!
letolino
(4 posts)everybody knows one...
Response to CTyankee (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
NanceGreggs
(27,820 posts)chaplain_M
(48 posts)CTyankee
(63,912 posts)Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)I can't say I'm a fan of anything he's done after, say, the early '80s. In fact, I think a lot of it is pretty cheesy. But his output from the '60s through the '70s is fantastic. That dude was a powerhouse of hooks and hits.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)none of the really cool kids liked him...
cloudbase
(5,525 posts)Boomerproud
(7,970 posts)and a slew of others.
lastlib
(23,322 posts)"I've Been This Way Before",and "Hello Again" both really touch a nerve for me as well.
billh58
(6,635 posts)Rhiannon12866
(206,274 posts)billh58
(6,635 posts)I was 29, and had almost that much hair...
Rhiannon12866
(206,274 posts)And I remember, too, was in high school.
Barack_America
(28,876 posts)Great song.
Iggo
(47,577 posts)YvonneCa
(10,117 posts)...is my favorite. He's a poet. His music is great, but the lyrics are the best. ❤️💕
Moostache
(9,897 posts)"LA's fine, but it ain't home....New York's home, but it ain't mine no more"
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)I heard it on a rare bootleg.
hamsterjill
(15,224 posts)Anything Neil - I love! I've seen him in concert eight times and never been disappointed.
To me, his music is religion. I love Lady Magdalene.
ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)Eugene
(61,965 posts)That and Solitary Man are some of first songs I knew.
Longfellow Serenade also holds a special place.
JenniferJuniper
(4,515 posts)go to my head
Make me forget
that I still need her so
Red, red wine
It's up to you
All I can do, I've done
But memories won't go
No, memories won't go
Clarity2
(1,009 posts)I'm so glad I found this board.
Almost every song.
My Dad sometimes tortured us when we were kids playing his music downstairs while we were sleeping. I was a light sleeper, so it kept me up. He was his biggest fan. I hated Neil Diamond until I became a young adult.... and my Dad died, and I became his biggest fan & suddenly "I got it".
But I still sometimes have a very hard time listening to some of his music. It's heart wrenchingly deep. Times like this (Twittler as president) makes it harder to listen to, and makes me miss my father more. He'd be horrified by Trump.
If I had to pick one it would be I am I said. But I haven't been able to listen to that song in a very long time. Sweet Caroline - just an upbeat, easy song to listen to, so I listen to that more than anything.
I went to his hot august summer night concert with my husband in NYC in 2008. My first Diamond concert. Would give anything to get to see that again - but front row center.
jalan48
(13,901 posts)MiltonBrown
(322 posts)Favorite song that I thought was Neil Diamond is 'Rock Me Gently' by Andy Kim