I Am... I Said

"I Am... I Said" is a song written and recorded by Neil Diamond. Released as a single on March 15, 1971,[1] 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.[2][3] It fared similarly across the Atlantic, reaching number 4 on the UK pop singles chart as well.[4]

"I Am... I Said"
Single by Neil Diamond
from the album Stones
B-side"Done Too Soon"
ReleasedMarch 15, 1971
GenrePop rock
Length3:32
LabelUni
Songwriter(s)Neil Diamond
Producer(s)Tom Catalano
Neil Diamond singles chronology
"Do It"
(1970)		 "I Am... I Said"
(1971)		 "Done Too Soon"
(1971)

Inspiration

"I Am... I Said", which took Diamond four months to compose,[3] is one of his most intensely personal efforts, making reference to both Los Angeles and New York City.[5] Diamond told Mojo magazine in July 2008 that the song came from a time he spent in therapy in Los Angeles. He said:

It was consciously an attempt on my part to express what my dreams were about, what my aspirations were about and what I was about. And without any question, it came from my sessions with the analyst.[6]

In the same month, he told Q that the song was written "to find [him]self" and added, "It's a tough thing for me to gather myself after singing that song."

But Diamond has also given another inspiration for this song: an unsuccessful tryout for a movie about the life and death of the comedian Lenny Bruce. Author David Wild interviewed Diamond for a 2008 book and he discussed how his efforts to channel Lenny Bruce evoked such intense emotions that it led him to spend some time in therapy.[7]

Reception

Critical opinion on "I Am... I Said" has generally been positive, with Rolling Stone calling its lyric excellent in a 1972 review,[8] while The New Yorker used it to exemplify Diamond's songwriting opaqueness in a 2006 retrospective.[9] Cash Box described the song as having "excellent production and performance."[10] Record World said "Personal number does Descartes' 'I think therefore I am' one better and Neil's philosophy always makes the charts"[11]

A 2008 Diamond profile in The Daily Telegraph simply referred to the song's "raging existential angst,"[12] and Allmusic calls it "an impassioned statement of emotional turmoil... very much in tune with the confessional singer/songwriter movement of the time."[1]

The song was not without its detractors, however. Humorist Dave Barry said:

Consider the song 'I Am, I Said,' wherein Neil, with great emotion, sings: 'I am, I said, to no one there. And no one heard at all, not even the chair.' What kind of line is that? Is Neil telling us he's surprised that the chair didn't hear him? Maybe he expected the chair to say, 'Whoa, I heard that!' My guess is that Neil was really desperate to come up with something to rhyme with 'there' and he had already rejected 'So I ate a pear,' 'Like Smokey The Bear,' and 'There were nits in my hair.'"[6]

The song garnered Diamond his first Grammy Awards nomination, for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.[1]

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[25] Silver 200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Other versions

"I Am... I Said" was 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.[8] It has also been included in live versions on Diamond's Hot August Night (from 1972, in a performance that Rolling Stone would later label "fantastically overwrought"[26]).

Checkmates, Ltd. released a version of the song on their 1971 album, Life. Brooke White performed the song on American Idol's seventh season during its Neil Diamond week,[27] changing the lyric to replace New York City with her home state of Arizona.[27] Among the foreign versions are the Italian language "La casa degli angeli" ("House of the angels"), performed by Caterina Caselli in 1971's album "Una grande emozione" ("A great emotion"),[28] and by Dutchman Jan Rot on his 2008 album Hallelujah as "Zeg God... zeg ik", taking the title as someone who curses, while the Jewish word for God means 'I am'. The Brazilian singer Diana recorded the song as "Porque Brigamos" ("Why we argue") in 1972, with lyrics written by the composer and producer Rossini Pinto. The band Killdozer also covered the song on their 1987 album Little Baby Buntin'. Jamaican reggae singer Mikey Spice released the album I Am I Said in 2014, including a cover of this song. Country artist Billy Ray Cyrus released a version of the song on his 2020 EP "Singin Hills Sessions Volume 1".[29]

See also

References
  1. William Ruhlmann. "Neil Diamond: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  2. Whitburn, Joel (1983). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: 1955 to present. Billboard Publications. p. 88. ISBN 0-8230-7511-7.
  3. Jackson, Laura (2005). Neil Diamond: His Life, His Music, His Passion. ECW Press. pp. 80–81. ISBN 1-55022-707-6.
  4. "Neil Diamond search results". everyHit.com. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  5. Abramovitch, Seth (May 24, 2015) "Neil Diamond Marks L.A. Homecoming with Sold-Out Run at Hollywood Bowl", Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  6. "I Am...I Said by Neil Diamond Songfacts". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 2016-10-03.
  7. David Wild. He Is . . . I Say: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond. Da Capo Press, 2008, pp. 107-108.
  8. Gambaccini, Paul (1972-01-20). "Neil Diamond: Stones". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 1, 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  9. Frere-Jones, Sasha (2006-01-16). "Hello, Again". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  10. "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. March 13, 1971. p. 26. Retrieved 2021-12-09.
  11. "Picks of the Week" (PDF). Record World. March 20, 1971. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
  12. McCormick, Neil (2008-03-05). "Neil Diamond: the hurt, the dirt, the shirts". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2008-05-03. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  13. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  14. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1971-05-08. Retrieved 2019-11-29.
  15. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – I Am I Said". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
  16. [ Flavour of New Zealand, ]
  17. "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  18. "Official Charts Company". Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  19. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  20. Cash Box Top 100 Singles, May 1, 1971
  21. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  22. Dutch Charts Annual Reviews - Single 1971
  23. Musicoutfitters.com
  24. "Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 25, 1971". Archived from the original on October 6, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
  25. "British single certifications – Neil Diamond – I Am I Said". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  26. Epstein, Dan (2005-11-03). "Neil Diamonds' Jewels". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  27. Weiss, Joanna (2008-04-29). "'Idol:' Loose Diamonds". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  28. Grignano, Augusta. "Caterina Caselli" (in Italian). IT: La voce delle donne. Archived from the original on 2007-12-17. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  29. "Billy Ray Cyrus' New EP the Singin' Hills Sessions Vol. 1 Sunset". 6 February 2020.
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