The Very Best of Neil Diamond

CD Details

Track Notes from Neil Diamond: 1. Forever In Blue Jeans — “Forever in Blue Jeans” was inspired by guitarist Richard Bennett’s wonderful opening guitar lick which he first played for me while we were out on the road. That guitar lick was so seductive that the melody I started singing over his guitar practically wrote itself. When we returned to L.A. we were anxious to get into the studio and put the finished (we thought) song on tape. After running through it with my band a few times, we all realized that we needed to add another musical section to make the record really work. We called a 15 minute break, right in the middle of the recording session, while Richard and I sat down at the piano and hashed out a brand new section with a lyric of its own (“Maybe tonight…” ). This new, unplanned section (instantly orchestrated by arranger Tom Hensley) would become one of my favorite parts of the record. Necessity really did prove to be the mother of invention on this wonderful Bob Gaudio production. 2. Beautiful Noise — I remember Garth Hudson of The Band sitting at his huge self built pipe organ and playing the solo of this record at the Beautiful Noise session. What he played completely floored us as he filled the musical track with an amazing sound that helped keep the record alive and interesting. Thank you Garth. 3. Love On The Rocks — “Love on the Rocks” was performed live for the cameras on the set of The Jazz Singer movie. This is something that’s hardly ever done in movies as they prefer to have the singer lip-sync the vocals of a pre-recorded track. All the songs in The Jazz Singer were done live because I’m terrible at lip-syncing. 4. Cherry, Cherry — Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, Artie Butler and I made a fun little demo of “Cherry, Cherry” to use as a guide for an upcoming recording session of the song. We never could top that unpretentious, good feeling demo at the full session, so they ended up releasing the demo. It went top five in America and marked the true beginning of my career in music. 5. I Am…I Said — “I Am…I Said” took four months of writing day and night to complete. When the song was finally finished, a great Lee Holdridge string and horn chart was written and recorded. An immaculate Tom Catalano production completed this musical journey. It was nominated for a Grammy and still gives me chills when I perform it. 6. Sweet Caroline — “Sweet Caroline” was written in a Memphis hotel room the night before it was recorded. The next day I walked the song over to American Sound Studio and played it through for producer Tommy Cogbill and the studio house band (Reggie Young on guitar, Mike Leech on bass, Bobby Emmons on the Hammond B-3 organ, Bobby Woods on acoustic piano and Gene Chrisman on drums). This little group created the basic track of one of my biggest and most durable hits ever. Co-producer Tom Catalano then brought in arranger Charlie Calello who wrote the unforgettable string and horn charts (bah-bah-bah) which were recorded later in New York City. This record was an unexpected gift from the Gods of music. One that made us all look so good, so good, so good! 7. Cracklin’ Rosie — While chatting with a Canadian fan one day I was told the story of an Indian tribe on a reservation in Canada which had a deficit in the number of women. This meant that those unfortunate single men would buy an inexpensive bottle of wine called Crackling Rosé to keep them company on Saturday nights. This wine would become their date for the evening and they called her Cracklin’ Rosie. That was all the story I needed to hear to write this song. It ended up being my first #1 record as an artist. For a recording artist there is no bigger thrill. 8. Play Me — We discovered during its recording session that “Play Me” didn’t feel quite right in the 4⁄4 time signature that I had written it in. Guitarist Richard Bennett came up with the solution by playing his guitar picking lick in 3⁄4 time. This new time signature made all the difference in the world as the song settled into its own natural feel. I thanked Richard for pointing me in the right direction by giving him my beloved Everly Brothers acoustic guitar on the spot. He returned it to me years later knowing how much I missed it. That guitar now resides at the Grammy museum in Los Angeles. 9. I’m A Believer — I don’t remember too much about writing or recording “I’m a Believer.” At the time it was just another one of the songs I had written for my second album on Bang Records. I do remember though, the Monkees recording it and taking it to #1 on the charts and it becoming the biggest selling single of the year. It’s hard to forget stuff like that. 10. Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon — This was my love song to all the screaming teeny-boppers at my early shows. 11. Holly Holy — Tommy Cogbill produced the basic tracks of “Holly Holy” in Memphis with the super-hot American Sound Studio house band. When co-producer Tom Catalano and I hand carried the boxes of recordi