May 16, 2013


SONG SUNG BLUE?

If there was such a thing as a Fountain of Youth I really wish that Neil Diamond would find it and take a plunge!
He, like all the rest of us, is going to grow old, and I cannot bear the thought of the world without him in it!   Thanks to technology we have the miracle of recordings and videos but there is nothing like knowing that the man and his voice is alive!
Neil Diamond’s music has been nurturing my soul since I first heard him belting out SONG SUNG BLUE way back in the day.
His music, his rhythms and the beautiful poetry of his lyrics seem to touch the deepest sensibilities of the human spirit.  Can you deny this as you hear him sing “I am, I said”; or Canta Libre?   His “Sweet Caroline” has become almost a national anthem!
  He has set me dancing with “I’m alive”, “Yesterdays Songs”  and “Beautiful Noise”, and he has comforted me in my grieving with “And the Grass won’t pay no Mind” and the beautiful melodies from the SeaGull Suite. 
Last night asI sat reading with Tennessee Moon playing softly, most of the songs on this CD were new to me and seemed to lack the energy of his earlier music.. . . .until the strains of REMINISCE FOR A WHILE awoke my heartstrings!  Perhaps it was just my mood ( Claude has been much on my mind of late)... 

 The pathos in his voice as he sang seemed to come from his own personal heartbreak. . . . . . and he made me believe he understood mine.  
 That is the genius of Neil Diamond.

I’D MUCH RATHER STAY
BUT I’LL BE ON MY WAY
AND NEVER AGAIN SEE YOU SMILE..
FOR ALL THAT IT’S WORTH
I’D MOVE HEAVEN AND EARTH
TO JUST REMINISCE FOR A WHILE.

Betty L. Owen
Journals 2013
 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was raised on Neil Diamond reel-to-reel recordings that my dad played. Taproot Manuscript is still my favorite. I love ND in ways that I'll never be able to appreciate other singer-songwriters. He is amazing. He is my childhood with my dad, me singing Song Sung Blue wearing paint-spattered overalls halfway up the ladder as dad was painting the house at the top. He's my dad sneaking up on me on my swing and saying, "I AM THE LION!" He was the soundtrack for most of the significant events in my young days, when i had NO BUSINESS liking ND and should have given more of my time to Shaun Cassidy, not that Shaun Cassidy didn't get plenty of my time! I still love Neil unabashedly, which was a heresy during my college and grad. school years. You tell 'em, Betty-O! Neil IS a diamond!

-- Ailise
x

Unknown said...

loved getting your feedback,
Ailise

Unknown said...

Thank you, anonymous!

Anonymous said...

i'm glad to have had you mention the blog so that i can read it, now! and i apologize for being anonymous and also putting my name. i just didn't want to log in with google! x

--- ailise anonymous. or, anonymous ailise. or, not anonymous ailise, more like.