Neil Diamond
American singer-songwriter, who, according to Billboard magazine, is the third most successful Adult Contemporary artist ever, ranking behind only Barbra Streisand and Elton John.
Desiree,
Oh, Desiree.
There I was found
By the sweet passion sound
Of your loving song.
Time was right, the night was long.
Kentucky woman
She shines with her own kind of light.
She'd look at you once
And a day that's all wrong looks all right.
And I love her, God knows, I love her.
Longfellow Serenade,
Such were the plans I'd made.
For she was a lady
And I was a dreamer,
With only words to trade.
I thought love was only true in fairy tales
Meant for someone else but not for me
I actually wanted to go to medical school. I actually wanted to be a laboratory biologist. I wanted to study. And I really wanted to find a cure for cancer. My grandmother had died of cancer. And I was always very good at the sciences. And I thought I would go and try and discover the cure for cancer.
I'm a perfectionist. I like to get it right. I like to get it good. And you know, writing songs is not -- it's not the kind of thing that you can count on every day. You never know what's going to come or if it's going to come. So you -- you know, it's an uncertain kind of a thing.
I've seen the light
And I've seen the flame.
And I've been this way before,
And I'm sure to be this way again.
Turn on your heartlight;
Let it shine wherever you go.
Let it make a happy glow
For all the world to see.
Turn on your heartlight
In the middle of a young boy's dream.
Don't wake me up too soon.
Gonna take a ride across the moon,
You and me.
"I am," I said
To no one there
An no one heard at all
Not even the chair
"I am," I cried
"I am," said I
And I am lost, and I can't even say why
Leavin' me lonely still.
Money talks,
But it don't sing and dance.
And it don't walk.
And long as I can have you
Here with me, I'd much rather be
Forever in blue jeans.
Call the sun in the dead of the night
And the sun gonna rise in the sky
Touch a man who can't walk upright
And that lame man, he gonna fly.
And I fly, yeah, And I fly.
Home,
Don't it seem so far away?
Oh, we're traveling light today,
In the eye of the storm.
In the eye of the storm.
I'm a writer who performs. And I mean, I'm basically a writer. I've been doing it since I was 16.
For me, the balance between the two, the writing -- a year, two years, whatever it takes to do an album, and then you've had enough of writing and thinking and being introspective and all of that kind of stuff, and you want to get out on the road and you want to, you know, get into the physicality of performing.
You don't bring me flowers.
You don't sing me love songs.
You hardly talk to me anymore.
When you come through the door
At the end of the day.
Far
We've been traveling far
Without a home
But not without a star.
Girl, I don't want to fight,
I'm a little bit wrong,
And you're a little bit right.
I said, girl, you know that it's true,
It's a little bit me,
And it's a little bit you too.
Red, red wine
Go to my head.
Make me forget that I
Still need her so.
And here's to the songs we used to sing;
And here's to the times we used to know.
It's hard to hold them in our arms again,
But hard to let them go.
Don't know that I will,
But until I can find me
The girl who'll stay
And won't play games behind me,
I'll be what I am:
A solitary man, solitary man.
A thing called "Cherry Cherry", was my first big national hit. It was a top five record. And international, as well. And you know, that's what broke the dam.
Boom, as soon as that record hit, I was out on the road. And I've been out on the road
since then.
I didn't realize it at first, but I did want to perform. I liked it. It was fun. You know, I went through all of the growth experiences that you go through in any field. But I did like it. And you know, I've been doing it since.