Gloria 2

Gloria Hunniford continues her interview with Neil in New York
	Today's interview began with a discussion of the song Solitary Man. Neil said that the song indeed does reflect what he is. However he wasn't aware of it at the time of writing the song.. He still enjoys going into his small recording studio to be alone with the music. His aim is to fill the silence with something beautiful.




Gloria then spoke about Neil's new album - Three Chord Opera.
A clip from Live By Request then showed Neil singing *You Are The Best Part Of Me*


Neil said he has been collaborating on his writing for 25 years. After Tennessee Moon had been written, he had that out of his system and wanted to get back to writing by himself. In Three Chord Opera he wanted to write a personal story and that required him writing both the lyrics and the music.
Another clip from Live By Request came next. This time we got Mission of Love


	Neil went on to say that he tried to make the album tell the story of the everyday man. Gloria remarked that the title was unusual. Neil replied that every person's story was worthy of an opera. The three chord bit was because it is for the average person - to show the simplicity of the music. He was at a point and age in his life when he could reflect on his experiences and show them through the music. It was the album of a mature man.
	Gloria then asked about his grandson, Elijah. Neil said he was fourteen months old. He had been born during the time he was writing the new album so he had to write a song for him - Elijah's Song. The song was played and we saw the following pictures -


	Neil went on to say he loved being a grandparent. He had three grandchildren and he had written a song for each of them. He spoke of his children and how they were now grown up and were always taking care of him. He said he loved them for that.

If you would like to download a sound file of this interview you should visit Steve's great new Neil site - Focus on Neil Diamond

Back to 2001	Part 1
Back to Main Page	Part 3