Rough Diamond -- Second Thoughts Lyrics

Image via WikipediaAn occasional series about the lyrics songwriters might not have written had they given it a second thought. This week, in celebration of the continuing massacre of popular music that is American Idol, the culprit is Neil Diamond, usually an unadventurous lyricist and therefore one not too prone to gaffes. However in I Am, I Said, he tried his hand at a bit of existential introspection:

I am, I said
To no one there
And no one heard at all
Not even the chair

It goes on:

Did you ever read about a frog who dreamed of being a king
And then became one
Well, except for the names and a few other changes
If you talk about me, the story's the same one

So he became a king, did he? Or is that just one of the "few other changes"?

But I got an emptiness deep inside
And I've tried but it won't let me go
And I'm not a man who likes to swear
But I've never cared for the sound of being alone

The sound of being fucking alone, surely? Perhaps he didn't swear because he's not a man who likes to swear? In which case, why tell us?

Bad. Just bad. But! Not as bad as the job done on his twitching corpse by the shamsters of AI. Check it out on YouTube, with commentary (never miss it, every week) by The Harpoonist.