Neil Diamond is one of the most treasured singers and songwriters of all time.
He is so respected in his field that celebrities from all over the world gathered to celebrate his contributions to music during the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony.
“The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture.”
One of the singers who paid tribute to Diamond that night was Lionel Richie, someone with a rich pedigree as well.
Ritchie’s own songs “We Are The World,” “Say You, Say Me,” and “All Night Long” have received worldwide acclaim, but on this night, he would pay tribute to Diamond.
I Am… I Said
Ritchie performed the 1971 single “I Am… I Said,” which was Diamond’s first song to earn him a Grammy Award nomination.
Diamond has said it is a deeply personal song that references his home in New York and his having moved to Los Angeles to work in entertainment.
What led to I Am… I Said
It’s been said that Diamond wrote the song after a failed audition to play the role of comedian Lenny Bruce in a film.
After being rejected for the part, Diamond evidently fell into a bit of an existential funk and began seeing a therapist.
A deeply personal song
In 2008, Diamond spoke to Mojo magazine about the song’s meaning:
“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,” Diamond said.
“No one heard at all, not even the chair”
Perhaps the most notable line from the song invokes imagery of Diamond screaming out to an empty chair in the hopes that someone will hear him.
Many people have offered up theories as to what the chair could be an analogy for.
What does the chair represent?
Some say the chair represents the therapist Diamond was seeing not understanding him.
Others say the chair represents Elijah, others say Jesus, and some just think he was talking about an empty chair.
Imagine what it would feel like to write such a deeply personal song and then see it celebrated in the way that it was.
Then imagine Lionel Ritchie singing that song back to you on a night when you were being honored by your colleagues.
That would be pretty special.
Lionel Ritchie performs for Neil Young
In this video, Ritchie gives a mesmerizing and touching performance during the Kennedy Center Honors event.
The camera cuts to Diamond’s face regularly as he starts to get emotional.
Ritchie did change one lyric in the song during his performance.
Ritchie swapped New York for his hometown of Tuskegee.
Watching Ritchie perform a song he wrote 40 years earlier about a time in his life when he was questioning his direction must have been a touching experience for Diamond.
Watch Lionel Ritchie perform “I Am… I Said” for Neil Diamond in the video below!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
