A reluctant Neil Diamond fan

In some of my previous articles, I have mentioned that for exercise, I do water aerobics.

The class that I attend in weekday evenings is great fun. Our instructor really gets the best out of me. In order not to hear our own grunting, groaning and huffing and puffing, music is played very loudly. Songs with a catchy tune are selected. There must always be a strong beat. The songs our instructor has chosen are many old songs jazzed up to a more contemporary beat. There are four classes per week generally and the classes are about three quarters of an hour in length.

Thus many of these songs get stuck in my head. The latest artist to be stuck in my head is Neil Diamond. As a teenager I despised him and his music, my music at that stage was all Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. I did not want to hear sweet melodies and lovely voices. What really made Neil Diamond horrible to me is that my parents liked his music. That was the last straw for me at that stage of my life.

There is no denying his popularity. When I used to go the “record shops”; they only had vinyls back then, there were shelves of his albums and only the odd album of my preferred kind of music. Unwillingly, the frequent hearing of his music on the radio that my parents listened to meant that the songs became well known to me. I still remember seeing the album “Hot August Night” all over the place. I still remember smirking when the newspapers reported that Neil was going bald and had to have hair transplants because he was a “ladies man”.

The only fellow whose soft music I liked was Cat Stevens, but that was because he was “cool”. Who didn’t like Cat?
Now over forty years later, Neil has struck! I find myself humming tunes from songs like “Sweet Caroline”, “Forever in Blue Jeans”, and “Song Song Blue”. Even as I type these titles, the melodies and Neil’s voice trap me into remembering.

I must confess, I like his music. Alright, alright I love it. The teenage version of me is horrified at what he sees I have become. Yes, I am getting old. I like music with a melody, farewell Ozzie Osborne and Robert Plant, heroes of my youth.

I breathe a sigh of regret and yet, I am pleased to make you a star in my mind, Neil Diamond!

Take a bow Neil, you are a legend, even to me.