He Is . . . I Say: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond
by David Wild
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Book Summary Information
Author: David WildEdition: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2008-10-20
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Book Reviews of He Is . . . I Say: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond
Book Review: Can the world be divided into two camps, those who like Neil Diamond and those who don't?
Summary: 5 Stars
Author David Wild, well known for his work with "Rolling Stone" and other magazines, clearly thinks so. He, of course, likes Diamond even while many others think him a hack writer of sill love songs. And most music critics, we learn in "He Is...I Say," dismiss Neil Diamond as a hopelessly non-cool songwriter and singer. Not so, says David Wild. He sees much in introspective and shy musician and performer to admire. It is not just his wonderfully evocative and sometimes moving songs, it is also Diamond's approach to life and meaning. Wild takes a personal approach to his subject, saying more about the interplay of Neil Diamond in his life and experience than most writers. Wild thinks of him as a "Jewish Elvis," one who has his demons to be sure, but not the overpowering destructive urges of the "The King." The most serious demon he has had to wrestle with is depression, and sometimes its flip side, and we see this in such songs as "I am...I Said" and "Solitary Man."
It is hard--I agree with Wild--not to like Neil Diamond. His biography is less scandalous than most famous musicians, and as Wild shows he lives the life of a solitary man perhaps channeling his wonderful hit song. His music is enjoyable, lovely to listen to, and sometimes his lyrics soar. But it has been his live performances that most people enjoy most. Like any number of others of my generation I listened repeatedly to "Hot August Night" on vinyl after its release in 1971. It presented a Neil Diamond that was both exciting and gifted as a performer, whose great songs sparkled even more in the live show. When I saw him perform live while in graduate school in the latter 1970s I witnessed firsthand the excitement of those live performances. Of course, as a diehard baseball fan, how can I not mention the adoption by the fans of the Boston Red Sox the song "Sweet Caroline" and the enthusiastic rendition offered at every Fenway Park game? You have to know that Neil Diamond smiles at the thought of more than 40,000 members of Red Sox Nation singing along with him during the game.
While "He Is...I Say: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond" is not a full-blown biography of this artist, it is a loving tribute to a musical force in the latter third of the twentieth century. David Wild channels the hopes and dreams of millions of suburban youth, and probably some urban ones as well, who grew up listening to Neil Diamond. Many of these "Diamond-heads" are now grandparents who still introduce his music to their offspring's offspring. Still, like Rodney Dangerfield always said, he still does not get much respect, at least from the music critics. I doubt this book will change that snub, but David Wild has shown here that enjoying his music is not just a guilty pleasure. He has made an enormous difference in popular music during the last forty plus years. If the world divides into two camps over Neil Diamond, like David Wild I'm on Neil's side.
Summary of He Is . . . I Say: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond
He Is...I Say examines Neil Diamond?s singular place in the pantheon of popular music. David Wild?who?s interviewed Diamond for Rolling Stone, penned the liner notes to a number of Diamond?s anthologies, and produced Diamond?s scandal-free episode of Behind the Music?now dares to turn on his ?Heartlight,? offering a moving and often hilarious salute to his own Jewish Elvis, one based on his interviews from over the years with the Solitary Man himself.
An illuminating snapshot of a beloved American icon, He Is...I Say endearingly speaks to the condition of being a Diamondhead in a hipper-than-thou world, while fully illustrating exactly what it is that makes the man and the artist so special.
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