THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

426-Neil Diamond-Cracklin’ Rosie.

1970-Number 3 single.

Best Bit-At 2.33. I am confident that from this point onward in the song, even I could do a karaoke performance justice.

Neil Leslie Diamond (see also best songs 536 and 13) was born on January 24th, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York, United States, with worldwide record sales in excess of 130 million, he is one of the best selling artists of all time. In 2018 he announced that he would retire from touring due to having been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, but added that he would continue to write and record. As a teenager Neil Diamond attended the ‘Erasmus Hall High School,’ in Brooklyn, New York City, where he was a member of the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club, along with his classmate Barbra Streisand (see also best songs 699 and 145.) Neil Diamond has said that they were not close friends at the time, ‘We were two poor kids in Brooklyn. We hung out in the front of Erasmus High and smoked cigarettes.’ In 1978 Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand duet-ted together on the track ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,’ as ‘Barbra & Neil,’ with the song reaching Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in America, and Number 5 in the UK, giving Neil Diamond his third and final Billboard Hot 100 Number 1 single, and Barbra Streisand the third of her five chart toppers. Neil,Diamond has been married on three occasions. His first wife was his high school sweetheart, Jaye Posner, together they had two daughters. The couple separated in 1967, and divorced in 1969. He then married Marcia Murphey in 1969, and had two sons, the couples marriage ended in the mid 1990’s, and they were divorced in 1996. In 2012, at the age of 71, Neil Diamond married his third wife Katie McNeil, who is 30 years younger than him. McNeil served as his manager, and produced the documentary ‘Neil Diamond: Hot August Nights NYC.’ Diamond has said that his 2014 Album ‘Melody Road’ was inspired by their relationship, ‘There’s no better inspiration or motivation for work than being in love. It’s what you dream of as a creative person. I was able to complete this album, start it, write it and complete it, under the spell of love, and I think it shows somehow.’

‘Cracklin’ Rosie’ was the second of three singles released from Neil Diamond’s his sixth studio Album ‘Tap Root Manuscript,’ from October 1970, the song was written by Neil Diamond, with the production being by Tom Catalano (see also best songs 13.) Tom Catalano who worked closely with Neil Diamond on several of his earlier Albums was born on April 2nd, 1933, in New York, United States, other artists he has worked with include Anne Murray, and Helen Reddy (1941-2020.) ‘Tap Root Manuscript,’ is considered to be one of Neil Diamond’s most experimental Albums, although side 1, which includes ‘Cracklin Rosie’ is ‘Pop/Rock,’ it is side 2 where Neil Diamond experiments, and pushes the barriers. Side 2 is a conceptual suite of related songs expressing an African theme, titled ‘The African Trilogy,’ within this suite was the song ‘Soolaimon,’ which reached Number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100. The 19-minute suite saw African Folk styles twined with Blues and Gospel elements to create what Diamond called ‘a Folk ballet.’ This effort predates many Western Pop artists’ interest in ‘World Music,’ for example Peter Gabriel’s 1980 founding of ‘World of Music, Arts and Dance,’ (WOMAD) and the African-influenced Album ‘Graceland’ by Paul Simon in 1986.

Many rumours have circulated over the years as to the true meaning of the lyrics to ‘Cracklin’ Rosie’, but Neil Diamond has confirmed that his inspiration for writing the song came after hearing a story about a native Indian Canadian tribe who had more men than women in their flock, and that the lonely men of the tribe, who couldn’t get a partner would sit around the camp fire and drink their wine together. ‘Crackling Rosé’ is the name of an inexpensive sparkling wine once produced by Andres Wines of British Columbia, and it is said that while on tour in the early days, Diamond may have purchased the product. It is also rumoured that in a piece of very clever marketing in order to get his song played on the radio, Diamond directed the lyrics ‘Play it now, Play it now my baby’ directly at Rosalie Trombley, (1939-2021) who was the music director at the Canadian radio station ‘CKLW’ at that time. Trombley had the final say as to what got played, and what didn’t, and could make or brake a song, the 1973 song ‘Rosalie’ by Bob Seger, and later covered by Thin Lizzy (see also best songs 125) in 1975 is about her.

The session musicians who played on this song were members of the Los Angeles based ‘The Wrecking Crew,’ who were employed for thousands of studio recordings during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Members of the ‘Crew’ who appear on this track, and it’s parent Album include Hal Blaine (1929-2019) (drums) Larry Knechtel (1940-2009) (keyboards) Joe Osborn (1937-2018) (bass) Al Casey (1936-2006) (guitar) Tony Terran (1926-2017) (trumpet) and Gene Estes (1931-1996) (percussion.) For ‘The Wrecking Crew’ (see also best songs 978-846-811-744-672-660-527-486-262-202-197-192-180-127 and 71.)

‘Cracklin’ Rose you’re a store bought woman, you make me sing like a guitar hummin,’ so hang on to me girl, our song keeps runnin’ on.’