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"I Am... I Said" is a song written and recorded by Neil Diamond. Released as a single on March 15, 1971, it was quite successful, at first slowly climbing the charts, then more quickly rising to number 4 on the U.S. pop singles chart by May 1971.〔 It fared similarly across the Atlantic, reaching number 4 on the UK pop singles chart as well.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Neil Diamond search results )〕 "I Am... I Said" took Diamond four months to compose. One of his most intensely personal efforts, it depicts the singer lost between two worlds: :''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... Verses start quietly in a low vocal range, half sung and half spoken, with a soft rock guitar and light strings backing. By the chorus climaxes, the vocals are much louder and higher in pitch, with horns, heavier drums and more strings joining in, but the singer even more uncertain: :''I am, I cried! :''I am, said I. :''And I am lost, and I can't even say why... Neil Diamond told ''Mojo'' magazine July 2008 that this song came from a time he spent in therapy in Los Angeles. He said: In the same month, he told ''Q'' that the song was written "to find ()self" and added, "I Am... I Said" was later included on Diamond's November 1971 album ''Stones''. The single version leads off the LP, while a reprise of the song, taken from midway to a variant ending with Diamond exclaiming "I am!", concludes.〔 Critical opinion on "I Am... I Said" has generally been good, with ''Rolling Stone'' calling its lyric excellent in a 1972 review, while ''The New Yorker'' used it to exemplify Diamond's songwriting opaqueness in a 2006 retrospective. A 2008 Diamond profile in ''The Daily Telegraph'' simply referred to the song's "raging existential angst," and Allmusic calls it "an impassioned statement of emotional turmoil... very much in tune with the confessional singer/songwriter movement of the time."〔 The song never went without its detractors however. Humorist Dave Barry said: The song garnered Diamond his first Grammy Awards nomination, for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.〔 "I Am... I Said" has been included in live versions on Diamond's ''Hot August Night'' (from 1972, in a performance that ''Rolling Stone'' would later label "fantastically overwrought") and ''The Greatest Hits: 1966-1992'' (from 1992), as well as in various compilations. Brooke White performed the song on ''American Idol'' ==See also== * List of songs about New York City * List of songs about Los Angeles 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「I Am... I Said」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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