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

To enable STEREO click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwircEDCss8&fmt=18 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.