Neil Diamond – I Am.. I Said

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L. A.'s fine the sun shines most the time
And the feelin' is laid back
Palm trees grow and rents are low

But you know I keep thinkin' 'bout
Making my way back

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

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
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 never cared for the sound of bein' alone

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Lyrics submitted by Ice

Track duration: 03:37

"I Am...I Said" as written by Neil Diamond

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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I Am.. I Said song meanings
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  • 0
    General Comment:I first heard this song as a young boy in the '70s, and had no clue (or care) as to what Neil was singing about. I now find myself going back to those songs whose lyrics I know as a child, and hopefully with some increased capacity for interpretation. Very recently, Neil chose to perform this song as part of his being accepted into the Rock and Roll Hall Fame. This I think speaks to how meaningful it is to him and to how he considers it a very accurate portrayal of his very dark experience of that time in LA. So my best conclusion about "I am...I said" and "I am...I cried" is that he is crying out "I exist," "I am here," and it is his stark awareness of his aloneness that leads him to this outcry. Indeed, he remarks later in the song, that he "...never cared for the sound of being alone." So yes, I'm with the Descartes theory.
    Flag IDanielsenon April 13, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:When this song came out a boy my parents knew hung himself and my mother commented on how she thought that the song expressed what the boy probably was feeling before his suicide. Completely and utterly alone. His proclamation that "Hey I'm here. I exist! crying for help, yet no one could hear him-not even the chair. The imagery and the angst in Diamonds delivery ...It's a powerful song.
    Flag ULIAJAYon December 29, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Q: Why didn't the chair hear him?
    A: It was rockin'!
    Flag Lord Hasenpfefferon October 28, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I just recently heard a live interview with Neil Diamond regarding this song on an oldies station. After hearing in his own words how the lyrics was written I decided to check this web site and see what was written. Many of the above posts are on the money. However, here a few points of interest. He wrote the lyrics in less than an hour while in his room at a Holiday Inn in L.A.. He described how he was depressed about how the audition went when he entered his hotel room alone and sat at the little table by the window where he took in all the sunshine and palm trees, but at the same moment felt extremely homesick for New York. He said he began to seriously doubt his move to the West Coast and felt very alone in the world when he began writing the lyrics to one of his finest songs. He said that many people, including the record company, questioned the use of "the chair" in the song, but he insisted that it remain. The "chair", he says, actually refers to the second chair at the table with him in the hotel room while he wrote the lyrics . . . it was the closest thing he had to a companion, yet even it would not hear him. In conclusion, even though he wrote the song in a mere hour it took him several months to recapture those immense feelings on a track. Hope this was helpful.
    Flag Hikin4Viewson October 10, 2010   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    Song Meaning:In Response to IknowIknow (and others), but certainly in relation to Neil diamond and this song, I Am, I Said, We could very easily wax rhapsodic about the God/Jesus or JudeoChristian conotations of "I Am' and altough Judaism recalls Jesus differently to Christians. 'I Am' is Him, the God of scriptures (To Christians this includes Jesus...Yes I am a very devout Chrisian who has faced death no less than 4 times in my as yet still young life)

    To me, this furtehr serves to highlight the multidimentional thinking of Neil Diamond. Whichever way you look at a great deal of his songs, but especially this one [I am, I Said] we see what we believe/think/feel (I had my emotions surgically removed in the removal of a massive brain tumor).

    I do know this much... anything that causes us to think about thinking, about being, about appreciating what we have, and are... that can only be a good thing for us. those of you lucky enough to escape true tragedy, well the true meaning may well fit in your paradigm. However, for those of us that for whatever plan God has for us, and so we live with true hardship, this song has added profundity - added salience.

    2 observations about people I have made over the years are that for many, and non of us are entirely immune from this:

    We fail to notice that we failed to notice.

    and

    To appreciate life, with all its pain and hardship, is to thank God without saying a word!

    Just think, for some of us (me too), we have met with the suicide of friends, and are left with the feeling that we didn't see it coming and so we live with the pain of that 'failing to notice...'
    Flag TravellingTroubadouron September 01, 2010   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation:I have listened to this song a hundred times and always thought it was somewhat senseless. One day it came to me, "I am" is what God calls himself in the bible. It's arguable to me that in a fit of lonliness and dispair that a man should call out to God for help. But sometimes, no matter how hard you scream, he doesn't seem to hear you. He feels like even God has abandonded him. (But he hasn't)
    Flag IknowIknowon May 31, 2009   Link
    • 2 Replies
  • 0
    General Comment:I can feel so much emotion upon listening to this song, I can relate somehow.
    I think everyone of us experinced this once(or more) in our life.
    Flag bear_hug20on November 25, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Shilo507's explanation about the chair seems pretty much right to me. I can't believe the presumptuous attitude of mflat that "the chair comment is completely uninspired and inane". Neil Diamond obviously knew what it referred to when he wrote the song, is mflat suggesting Diamond doesn't know his own mind?
    Flag detailrichon October 20, 2008   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    General Comment:Its a nice sounding song. Loneliness in leaving where you come from perhaps?
    Flag Squirt_gunon June 20, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:We weren't content to be a frog, so we strived to be a king. Success turned hollow, and life turned to quiet desparation, and the utter pain of existence. We've all been there.
    Flag LogicalDreameron May 28, 2008   Link

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