Support for LAist comes from
Local and national news, NPR, things to do, food recommendations and guides to Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire
Stay Connected
Listen

Share This

NPR News

Neil Diamond, Covering His Favorites From Others

Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.

During a career spanning five decades, Neil Diamond has sold almost 130 million albums. He's released nearly 40 Top 10 hits. And he's one of the few men who can make sequins look cool.

His new album, Dreams, is a collection of mostly familiar cover songs, which he calls the best of the rock era.

"There seems to be a bunch of things I want to do before I leave this planet, and this album is one of them," Diamond tells Weekend All Things Considered host Guy Raz. "I didn't want to wait any longer."

Several songs on Dreams are pulled from the 1960s. Diamond was still an unknown in the earlier part of the decade, when The Everly Brothers hit it big with "Let It Be Me." The song was originally written by French composer Gilbert Becaud, whom Diamond fondly recalls meeting. The two later would later craft one of Diamond's hit singles, "Love on the Rocks."

Support for LAist comes from

"When I had the chance to meet Gilbert, I made sure he and I wrote together," Diamond says.

Diamond found success as a musician by the mid-'60s, and continued to write and perform as he grew older. He says he doesn't know if he likes his voice now any better than he did back then.

"I think maturity has added to my recordings, but they had something in the early days that I don't have now," Diamond says. "And I have something now that I didn't have back then."

Other songs on the album include Jim Weatherly's "Midnight Train to Georgia," The Eagles' "Desperado" and Randy Newman's "Losing You" and "Feels Like Home." Diamond says he was so concerned about making the artists happy that he sent out recordings to each one. He even called Newman to play him the tracks over the phone; he says Newman offered his compliments. Reactions from other artists have been similarly positive, Diamond says, including the feedback he received on his Beatles covers.

"While I was in England last week, Paul McCartney sidled up to me," Diamond says. "He was a little surprised I had picked 'Blackbird' and 'Yesterday,' but he liked it, and that made me very happy."

Among the covers, Diamond included a new rendition of his own song, "I'm a Believer," which has been covered repeatedly since The Monkees' version took to the top of the charts. "Red Red Wine" propelled the reggae band UB40 to fame, while the rock band Urge Overkill made a hit out of "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon." As a musician whose work has been covered countless times, Diamond says he approves of those who have redefined his songs.

"I do think they got it right," he says. "I like when an artist records one of the songs and puts his own stamp on it; finds something new and fresh in the song. That's what I hope for when someone sends in a recording of one of my songs."

Support for LAist comes from

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.

Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.

We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.

No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.

Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.

Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.

Chip in now to fund your local journalism
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
(
LAist
)

Trending on LAist