Neil Diamond – I Am… I Said

“I Am… I Said” – Single by Neil Diamond from the album Stones
B-side: “Done Too Soon”
Released: March 15, 1971
Songwriter: Neil Diamond
Producer: Tom Catalano
Charted No.4 in US and No.4 in UK

“I Am… I Said”, which took Diamond four months to compose, is one of his most intensely personal efforts, making reference to both Los Angeles and New York City. 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

Unless you have heard the album, you may not realize the song is divided into halves; the first half of the song opens Side One and the second half closes Side Two. The song was reassembled for the single.

This is a powerful song, though it has been parodied on occasion, particularly for the lyrics, “No one heard at all, not even the chair.” However, as a song of frustration and self-declaration, it is a timeless classic.

Neil Diamond – I am… I said
Live video from ZDF Disco 1971