The Big Apple Top Ten: I Am…I Said (#8)

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No, I don’t wanna hear any griping about using this song. Yes, I know this song gets a lot of ribbing, but it’s still a good song. And it references New York, and it’s BY a New Yorker! So there! Here’s today’s song. #8: I Am…I Said - Neil Diamond Dave Barry, the noted humorist/author, made a joke about this song and the reference to the line about the chair paying Neil Diamond no heed (“no one heard at all, not even the chair”). He said he got blasted by Diamond fans over ridiculing the song. But I get it, that line has been laughed at more than once. But on the other hand…if you’ve been in deep desperation, you can understand it. And that’s where this song came from. There were two major points of influence on Diamond writing this song. The first was when he tried out for the role of Lenny Bruce in what became the Dustin Hoffman film Lenny. He said he was extremely nervous when he discovered that Bruce’s mother was in the audience watching. Yes, I think that’d scare anyone. More significantly, Diamond was hitting his stride in the late 60s, with hits like “Sweet Caroline” and writing the Monkees’ hit “I’m a Believer.” So, as he says in the song, he went to the west coast for the “celebrity,” but it left him empty, and “lost between two shores.” He shuns the “fairy tale” existence of success (“did you ever read about a frog who dreamed of being a king and then became one”). Diamond said this song took a long time to write, and it was therapeutic (and came after a lot of therapy sessions). A lot of people don’t “care for the sound of being alone,” so it’s hard to accept it. No, this isn’t a silly song, it’s a deep probe into the soul of a man who, like a lot of us, find out that the grass that looks green on the other side is just a mirage. I Am…I Said Written by Neil Diamond Recorded by Neil Diamond From Stones, 1971 NYC LYRICS: Well, I’m New York City born and raised