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In 2009, Neil Diamond put out a new DVD...a live performance at Madison Square Garden, New York.
There is some behind the scenes footage which shows him and all of his performers (band members, backup singers etc.) sitting in a circle before the concert in kind of a pre-game meeting.
At one point-and I have no idea what he was referring to exactly-he addressed one of his brass players with a smile and said not to "try" a certain something again because "that didn't work."
And my ears perked. "That----didn't---work." Seriously.
Here's what blows my mind about those three little words in this context: Neil Diamond has been touring for fifty years. Fifty years!!!! Last year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He received the Kennedy Center Honor this past winter. A few years ago, a music industry expert wrote that there remain only two relevant singers from the 1960s...Bob Dylan and Neil Diamond. He's relevant because he still writes relatively successful original music.
Most performers in their seventies have been reduced to covering every type of music there has ever been, or doing duet albums while covering every type of music there has ever been. Or they simply live off the residuals of past laurels.
Neil Diamond has done some of that. But his sheer love of writing is seen in the fact that he can't help himself-he just keeps writing. It shows you that he has always loved his work-it was never simply a means to an end like it is for so many.
Now, not all of it has been good. I enjoy very much his pre-1980 stuff and his newest since 2000. But his music from 1980 to 1999 (sequins and all) makes me want to tie a noose, slip it around my neck and hang myself from a ceiling beam while someone beats me with a broom. "Turn on your heart light?" Really?
Like his music or hate his music...here's my point...
One of the most iconic names in music...fifty years and counting...hall of fame career...and he's still trying stuff. And sometimes it doesn't work.
This band has been with him forever. And there are still things left to try? And he gives them the liberty to try them?
Guarding against ruts, always believing that something can be done better no matter how many times he's done it, allowing his people to innovate, always willing to risk, loving the work for the work itself...is it any wonder Neil Diamond has had the career he's had spanning six decades...and why it's still going strong today?
A leader in music, a leader of a business...seems to work for him.
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