Artist: Neil Diamond
Song: America
Year: 1980
Album: The Jazz Singer
Whoever came up with the idea of remaking the first motion picture to include extended sound should be dragged in front of a firing squad. Whoever is responsible should be put in front of the brick wall that Les Lye used to command the firing squad at the various kids on You Can't Do That On Television. The only genius moves were getting Neil Diamond and Laurence Olivier to agree to star in this monstrosity.
In a confusing move, Neil Diamond was up for a Golden Globe and a Razzie for his performance. He won the Razzie. Aside from the sacrilegious way of remaking the story and removing the mother character, the music was outstanding. Neil Diamond always finds a way to make a masterpiece out of the simplest and cheesiest ideas.
This song was on the suggested banned list that came out after September 11, 2001. Why? I don't even really know for sure. I guess because the song involved foreigners coming to America. While the song recalls the awe and glory of the immigrant crossing into a new land to start a new life, I can see where some ignorant people could mistake that for what happened that morning.
Even after the mini controversy, this song has survived. It remains an empowering battle cry for new arrivals to the United States. Plus, it's catchy as all hell! This is still an enduring classic that I turn up and sing along with every time I hear it.
Lyrics:
FAR, we've been travelin' in FAR
Without a home, But not without a star
Free, only one can be free
We huddle close, and hang on to a dream
On the boats and on the planes, They're coming to America
Never looking back again, They're coming to America
Home...though it seems so far away
And we'll travel in the light today,
in the eye of the storm...in the eye of the storm
Home...to a new and a shiny place
Make our beds and we'll say our grace
Freedoms light burning warm, freedoms light burning warm
Everywhere around the world, they're coming to America
Every time that flags unfurled, they're coming to America
Got a dream to take them there, they're coming to America
Got a dream they come to share, they're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
Today
Today
Today
Today
My country 'tis of thee (today)
Sweet land of liberty (today)
Of thee I sing (today)
Of thee I sing (today)
Today, today, today, today, today
Showing posts with label Neil Diamond. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Neil Diamond. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Sunday, November 30, 2008
September Morn' - Neil Diamond
Artist: Neil Diamond
Song: September Morn'
Year: 1980
Album: September Morn'
It seems that when I was a kid, Neil Diamond was everywhere. I saw him on television. I heard him on the radio. I read about him in magazines and the newspaper. He was everywhere. Looking back on that time, it makes perfect sense. Neil Diamond was a hit machine in the late seventies and early eighties. That period has to be his most successful time.
I'm not dismissing other periods in his career. Neil has been able to squeeze out a hit in every decade since he became a solo artist. The time around the September Morn' album was his best. He had just come off of a duet with Barbara Streisand and was about to star in the remake of the Jazz Singer.
While the movie was less than perfect, the songs were fantastic. Neil would even follow that movie with a hit song that he wrote about E.T. If that was not his best period ever, I don't know what would be. This song was the bridge between his successful seventies career and his hot streak in the early eighties.
"September Morn'" is a love song, on the surface. I can feel the pain and anguish in the lyrics and the lovelorn tone of Neil's voice. Was this a practice album to ease the jarring compositions of the Jazz Singer soundtrack? Maybe. 1980 was about pleasing the masses and I think this was the start of that. It's an enduring song that still tugs at you.
Lyrics:
Stay for just a while
Stay, and let me look at you
It's been so long, I hardly knew you
Standing in the door
Stay with me a while
I only wanna talk to you
We've traveled halfway 'round the world
To find ourselves again
September morn
We danced until the night became a brand new day
Two lovers playing scenes from some romantic play
September morning still can make me feel that way
Look at what you've done
Why, you've become a grown-up girl
I still can hear you crying
In a corner of your room
And look how far we've come
So far from where we used to be
But not so far that we've forgotten
How it was before
September morn
Do you remember how we danced that night away
Two lovers playing scenes from some romantic play
September morning still can make me feel that way
Song: September Morn'
Year: 1980
Album: September Morn'
It seems that when I was a kid, Neil Diamond was everywhere. I saw him on television. I heard him on the radio. I read about him in magazines and the newspaper. He was everywhere. Looking back on that time, it makes perfect sense. Neil Diamond was a hit machine in the late seventies and early eighties. That period has to be his most successful time.
I'm not dismissing other periods in his career. Neil has been able to squeeze out a hit in every decade since he became a solo artist. The time around the September Morn' album was his best. He had just come off of a duet with Barbara Streisand and was about to star in the remake of the Jazz Singer.
While the movie was less than perfect, the songs were fantastic. Neil would even follow that movie with a hit song that he wrote about E.T. If that was not his best period ever, I don't know what would be. This song was the bridge between his successful seventies career and his hot streak in the early eighties.
"September Morn'" is a love song, on the surface. I can feel the pain and anguish in the lyrics and the lovelorn tone of Neil's voice. Was this a practice album to ease the jarring compositions of the Jazz Singer soundtrack? Maybe. 1980 was about pleasing the masses and I think this was the start of that. It's an enduring song that still tugs at you.
Lyrics:
Stay for just a while
Stay, and let me look at you
It's been so long, I hardly knew you
Standing in the door
Stay with me a while
I only wanna talk to you
We've traveled halfway 'round the world
To find ourselves again
September morn
We danced until the night became a brand new day
Two lovers playing scenes from some romantic play
September morning still can make me feel that way
Look at what you've done
Why, you've become a grown-up girl
I still can hear you crying
In a corner of your room
And look how far we've come
So far from where we used to be
But not so far that we've forgotten
How it was before
September morn
Do you remember how we danced that night away
Two lovers playing scenes from some romantic play
September morning still can make me feel that way
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