“One of the only vocalists who can sing a Neil Diamond song to Neil Diamond and knock it out the park” is what a top commenter had to say after hearing this touching tribute from Lionel Richie. Lionel sang Neil’s timeless hit “I Am… I Said” for the man himself at the latter’s Kennedy Center Honors. You can tell that Lionel has so much love and respect for Neil’s music in the heartfelt way he delivers the song.
It’s not an easy task at all to take such a personal song, with such an intimate arrangement, and make it really pop. Lionel really shows what an incredible artist he is with this interpretation. And seeing Neil and Meryl Streep’s reactions to the performance makes this so special. Neil watches spellbound, and you can see he’s deeply moved by the performance. The Music Man has to say this is one of our favorite Kennedy Center moments!
When The Kennedy Center Honors uploaded Lionel’s take on “I Am… I Said” to YouTube, it hit 10 million views. This made it the third-most popular performance in the history of the event. Fans loved the tribute and added comments such as “If you can get Lionel Richie to sing one of your songs you’re a success!” and “The difficulty level of taking someone else’s classic song, and making it your own, while honoring the song, and singing it that well, is mind-blowing.”
Lionel has both given and received memorable musical tributes over the years. One of our favourite Lionel moments came when he watched Lady A perform his song “Truly” at ACM Presents: Lionel Richie and Friends – In Concert. Lady A deliver such poignant vocals here, and you can really feel the love they have for the song. Lionel can be seen singing along and even getting a tad misty-eyed as the song progresses.
Neil Diamond issued “I Am… I Said” on March 15, 1971, as the lead single from his seventh studio album, Stones. The New York hitmaker penned the song himself, while Tom Catalano handled production. The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that Neil scored a hit on both sides of the pond with “I Am… I Said.” The song peaked at number four in both the US and UK and went Silver in the latter market. Neil said that the song emerged after his therapy sessions in Los Angeles, recalling that it was about his dreams, aspirations, and “what I was about.”