Neil Diamond - I Am... I Said (Stereo!)

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LA's fine, sunshine most of the time
The feeling is laid back
Palm trees grow and the rents are low
But you know I keep thinking about
Making my way back

Well, I'm New York City born and raised
But nowadays, I'm lost between two shores
LA's fine, but it ain't home
New York's home but it ain't mine no more

I am, I said
To no one there
And no one heard at all
Not even the chair
I am, I cried
I am, said I
And I am lost, and I can't even say why
Leavin' me lonely still

Did you ever read about a frog who dreamed of being a king
And then became one
Well, except for the names and a few other changes
If you talk about me, the story's the same one

But I got an emptiness deep inside
And I've tried but it won't let me go
And I'm not a man who likes to swear
But I've never cared for the sound of being alone

I am, I said
To no one there
And no one heard at all
Not even the chair
I am, I cried
I am, said I
And I am lost, and I can't even say why

I am, I said
I am, I cried
I am...
___________________
Stones was an album by Neil Diamond. It was recorded and released in 1971. One of the biggest hit records of his career. The conductors and arrangers were Lee Holdridge, Marty Paich and Larry Muhoberac.

Track listing:

All songs written by Neil Diamond unless otherwise indicated. 1. "I Am...I Said"
2. "The Last Thing on My Mind" (Tom Paxton)
3. "Husbands and Wives" (Roger Miller)
4. "Chelsea Morning" (Joni Mitchell)
5. "Crunchy Granola Suite"
6. "Stones"
7. "If You Go Away" (Jacques Brel, Rod McKuen)
8. "Suzanne" (Leonard Cohen)
9. "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today" (Randy Newman)
10. "I Am...I Said (Reprise)"

"I Am...I Said" is a song written and recorded by Neil Diamond. Released as a single in March 1971, it was quite successful, at first slowly climbing the charts, then more quickly rising to number 4 on the U.S. pop singles chart by May 1971. It fared similarly across the Atlantic, reaching number 4 on the UK pop singles chart as well.

"I Am...I Said" took Diamond four months to compose. One of his most intensely personal efforts, it depicts the singer lost between two worlds: Well, I'm New York City born and raised But nowadays, I'm lost between two shores L.A.'s fine, but it ain't home — New York's home but it ain't mine no more ...

Verses start quietly in a low vocal range, half sung and half spoken, with a soft rock guitar and light strings backing. By the chorus climaxes, the vocals are much louder and higher in pitch, with horns, heavier drums and more strings joining in, but the singer even more uncertain: I am, I cried! I am, said I. And I am lost, and I can't even say why ...

"I Am...I Said" was later included on Diamond's November 1971 album Stones. The single version leads off the LP, while a reprise of the song, taken from midway to a variant ending with Diamond exclaiming "I am!", concludes.

Critical opinion on "I Am...I Said" has generally been good, with Rolling Stone calling its lyric excellent in a 1972 review, while The New Yorker used it to exemplify Diamond's songwriting opaqueness in a 2006 retrospective. A 2008 Diamond profile in The Daily Telegraph simply referred to the song's "raging existential angst," and Allmusic calls it "an impassioned statement of emotional turmoil ... very much in tune with the confessional singer/songwriter movement of the time."

The song garnered Diamond his first Grammy Awards nomination, for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.

"I Am...I Said" has been included in live versions on Diamond's Hot August Night (from 1972, in a performance that Rolling Stone would later label "fantastically overwrought") and Greatest Hits: 1966-1992 (from 1992), as well as in various compilations.

Brooke White performed the song on American Idol's seventh season during its Neil Diamond week, changing the lyric to replace New York City with her home state of Arizona. Among the foreign versions,we remember the Italian language "La casa degli angeli " ("House of the angels"),performed by Caterina Caselli in the original 1971.

Category:

Music

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• Said
• Stones
• NeilDiamondChannel

[vintagegirl1961]

@fab4fan4ever64

Well said!!! I am so thankful to be raised in the 60's and 70's when life and music was fun! So sorry for the young ones today, really I am.

[Originaluncleagent]

"I Am...I Said" has been my theme song since I first heard it- when i played it on the radio as a Disc-Jockey. This song is more like an Anthem to me. I have

never tired of it. I have even played it on a tape recorder in the middle of the Nicaraguan jungle back in the 1970's. Thank You, Neil...

[townkevin59]

....Why is it when we get a lot older, we stay home more listening to great tunes like this, get fat, drink alone without a shirt on, and look at ourselves in the mirror as we try to sing like this, only to realize the days of ever getting laid again are long, long over with!

[baabble]

from the other side of the orld this is still gold love it till i die!!!!!!!

[Blkkgb]

''I AM I CRIED''

[daisies53]

I love this song even if the lyrics can make me cry! This song I dedicate for a very special reason! Thank you to Neil Diamond and everyone who helped to allow others so much joy at being able to listen to on You Tube! :)

[TheScoobasteve84]

fuck u and ur age and ur taste in music! just listen man

[killz4money]

I may only be 16 but there's good music out there and I'll find it, just as I found this song.

[czech698]

wwwgreatbuyoutletscom wwwtopfuelsavercom Look how pretty he is his hair's like flax, and so thick..."

"Oh, all right, all right. They only come here to dance and sing, you know, brother. But damn it all, wait a bit!... Eat and drink and be merry, meanwhile. Don't you want money?" He stood alone in a dark corner, and suddenly clutched his head in both hands. His scattered thoughts came together; his sensations blended into a whole and threw a sudden light into his mind. A fearful

[edge18]

@MsPaparatz hey i'm 24/ male, i love neil diamond, ever since i was young, seen him 5 times, this will be my 6th time:) enjoy

[TheKatz1964]

@vintagegirl1961 well said

[TheScoobasteve84]

dislike???????????????????????­??????WTF