It's Neil Diamond Month!

I have to say, bringing Neil into my first post ended up being a window into my very soul. Neil and I are quite intimate. Not in the Biblical sense, although most of our interactions were on Sunday, but his records played in our house all the time. I've been to two of his concerts, not completely by choice, but they were good concerts nonetheless. My mom was a little bit pre-stalker with Neil while I was growing up. Was it normal for a 10-year-old to know all of the words to "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" or "Forever In Blue Jeans"? No. But I have never claimed to corner the market on normal.

And so, this month is going to be Neil Diamond Month on this blog. Let's all grow our hair into a man-bob and look at each other with smoldering eyes and talk about our feelings, and see if we can touch some deep, dark Neil Diamond place in our souls. What's that you say? Barbra Streisand was a 70's icon? Donna Summer? Kenny Rogers? Willie Nelson? Patience, my friends. Patience. I'll find a way to bring us back the the 70's, and The Way We Were, when we Worked Hard For The Money as The Gambler at the Whiskey River.

Since it is indeed September, and September is now Neil Diamond Month, it's fitting to start with the song "September Morn." September Morn is the lead song off of one of Neil's more obscure and less commercially popular albums, titled...wait for it..."September Morn." (Not as obscure as the album "Velvet Gloves and Spit" which features "The Pot Smokers song." I'm not kidding, I wouldn't mess with you over Neil Diamond trivia.) He sounds a little needy in this song - he starts by seductively begging his audience to "stay for just a little while" and then goes into the chorus of "We danced until the night became a brand new day."

Clearly, Neil is a man, because at this point, he had four children. A woman would say, "Listen, it's been fun dancing, but I have to beat it, I have lunches to pack and the kids need to be at school in three hours." He says he just wants to talk, but sister, please. He's been dancing all night, and now he wants to TALK? But alas, the listener learns that Neil isn't in the modern day, he's looking back to a more carefree time, when indeed we could dance the night away and Dime Draws meant that we could drink 10 beers for a dollar.

Dancing and talking until dawn, dime draws, irresponsibility...September Morning can still make me feel that way too, Neil. You're so sentimental.