1966 Top Ten: Solitary Man (#4)

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Hey, if that country music makes your head hurt, come on over to 1966, where we have one of the greatest singer/songwriters of our generation to greet you! Yes, I really do love both the die-hard country song I posted earlier AND this one. Happy 60th birthday to this song. #4: Solitary Man - Neil Diamond Why Neil Diamond hasn’t been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a performer is beyond me. I guess I should be happy that he IS in (as a songwriter), and that they put him in while he’s still alive. I love Diamond’s remark about this song, where he said that, after four years of talking to a psychologist, “I realized that I wrote ‘Solitary Man’ about myself.” Well, as long as he recognized it. And I’m glad he did the self-analysis, because wow, what a great song WE got to hear. This was Diamond’s first hit single. By the way, he just released a new album (produced by Rick Ruben, who did the American Recordings with Johnny Cash). What I’ve heard from it has impressed me. Diamond may have had to retire from touring because of Parkinson’s but he’s far from no longer being a valid voice in music. Solitary Man Written by Neil Diamond Recorded by Neil Diamond From The Feel of Neil Diamond, 1966 Me and Sue, but that died too: