With the film Song Sung Blue due for release on Christmas Day, here’s a quick refresher course on Neil Diamond’s loping, midtempo ballad of the same name which became a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972.
The song discusses (and demonstrates) the power of music to improve your mood. It walks the same fine line between happy and sad as Elton John’s 1984 hit “Sad Songs (Say So Much).” Diamond co-produced the smash with Tom Catalano, who would produce another Hot 100 No. 1 hit the following year for Helen Reddy, “Delta Dawn.”
“Song Sung Blue” has an easygoing, amiable approach that echoes such 1940s hits as Bing Crosby’s “Swinging on a Star.” It has little of the dynamics and crackling tension of such earlier Diamond hits as “Cherry, Cherry,” “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show” and “Cracklin’ Rosie.” You can make a good case that its success marked the moment that Diamond shifted from pop/rock stardom to being seen as one of the kings of adult contemporary.
Song Sung Blue is a narrative feature adaptation of Greg Kohs’ 2008 documentary of the same name. The film stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as Milwaukee couple Mike and Claire Sardina, struggling musicians who become local stars performing as the Neil Diamond tribute band Lightning & Thunder. (He’s Lightning; she’s Thunder.) Because of Hudson’s previous success with rom-coms, you might think this is that kind of film. It isn’t: It’s surprisingly dramatic. Hudson received a Golden Globe nomination last week for her impressive performance.
Here are six things to know about Neil Diamond’s “Song Sung Blue.”
