Song Sung Blues

You may be surprised to learn that one of my absolute favorite singers is Neil Diamond. I have very early memories of playing 45s of "Song Sung Blue" and "Play Me" on the record player as a child, and of course "Holly Holy" always had a special place. Before I'd ever even heard the deep gravely voices of Bowie or Bono, Neil was there, and I still think his is the best voice. There's nothing like it. And while I sometimes think he was a better singer than songwriter, you can't argue with hits like "Sweet Caroline" and "I'm A Believer."

Anyway, I'm not an American Idol fan--in fact I vowed to never watch the show again after Constantine got voted off like 2 or 3 years ago. (Stop laughing! I didn't love him for his voice--it was the look in his eyes...) But today at work I heard that last night's AI featured Neil Diamond songs! So I had to go home and Youtube it. So now I've just finished watching the top 5 singers do their best to sing Diamond. And I didn't like any of the performances. I thought the best was Brooke's "I Am, I Said," but somehow the substitution of Arizona for New York in the lyrics was too cheesy for me, and it didn't make sense. Being torn between Arizona and L.A. is not being "lost between two shores!"

So I had to get back to the basics. If you aren't a Neil Diamond fan, please just humor me, and watch this:

He's the best! And by the way, if you've never seen "The Last Waltz," you are missing out. In fact, I think I need to buy it.