I Am... I Said

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"I Am... I Said"
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Template:Infobox song/link by Neil Diamond
from the album Stones
B-side"Done Too Soon"
ReleasedMarch 15, 1971
GenrePop rock
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LabelUni
[[Songwriter|SongwriterTemplate:Pluralize from text]]Neil Diamond
[[Record producer|ProducerTemplate:Pluralize from text]]Tom Catalano
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"Do It"
(1970) 		"I Am... I Said"
(1971) 		"Done Too Soon"
(1971)
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"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 and 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]

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: Page Template:Blockquote/styles.css has no content.

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."

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. In a 2012 book about bad songs, humorist Dave Barry extensively ridiculed the line "... no one heard at all, not even the chair".[13]

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

Charts

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Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
New Zealand (RMNZ)[24] Gold 0 
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.[citation needed] 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

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  1. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.William Ruhlmann. "Neil Diamond: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Whitburn, Joel (1983). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: 1955 to present. Billboard Publications. p. 88. ISBN 0-8230-7511-7.
  3. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jackson, Laura (2005). Neil Diamond: His Life, His Music, His Passion. ECW Press. pp. 80–81. ISBN 1-55022-707-6.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Neil Diamond search results". everyHit.com. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
  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. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."I Am...I Said by Neil Diamond Songfacts". Songfacts.com. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  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. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gambaccini, Paul (January 20, 1972). "Neil Diamond: Stones". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 1, 2007. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Frere-Jones, Sasha (January 16, 2006). "Hello, Again". The New Yorker. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. March 13, 1971. p. 26. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Picks of the Week" (PDF). Record World. March 20, 1971. p. 1. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.McCormick, Neil (March 5, 2008). "Neil Diamond: the hurt, the dirt, the shirts". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on May 3, 2008. Retrieved May 2, 2008.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Barry, Dave (November 6, 2012). Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs. Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 9781449437589. Retrieved June 17, 2025 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. May 8, 1971. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
  16. ^ [ Flavour of New Zealand, ]
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Official Charts Company". Retrieved October 9, 2019.
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Cash Box Top 100 Singles, May 1, 1971". Archived from the original on October 29, 2007. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
  20. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  21. ^ Dutch Charts Annual Reviews - Single 1971
  22. ^ Musicoutfitters.com
  23. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 25, 1971". Archived from the original on October 6, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
  24. ^ Script error: No such module "cite". Type I Am I Said in the "Search:" field and press Enter.
  25. ^ Script error: No such module "cite". Select singles in the Formats field. Type I Am I Said Neil Diamond in the "Search:" field.
  26. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Epstein, Dan (November 3, 2005). "Neil Diamonds' Jewels". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
  27. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Weiss, Joanna (April 29, 2008). "'Idol:' Loose Diamonds". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on April 30, 2008. Retrieved May 16, 2008.
  28. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Grignano, Augusta. "Caterina Caselli" (in italiano). IT: La voce delle donne. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. Retrieved May 16, 2008.
  29. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Billy Ray Cyrus' New EP the Singin' Hills Sessions Vol. 1 Sunset". February 6, 2020.

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