(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Neil Diamond - "Cracklin' Rosie"
Hit Number 1: October 10, 1970
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
Stories vary on where Neil Diamond found his inspiration to write "Cracklin' Rosie". While it has never been confirmed, the most likely story comes from a time where Diamond was being interviewed while visiting Toronto. Diamond heard stories about a Native Canadian tribe where there were more men than women. The lonely single men of the tribe would sit around the fire and drink wine together, which apparently struck some kind of a chord with Diamond. The name of the wine "Crackling Rose" was changed slightly for the song's title to become "Cracklin' Rosie". That led some to mistakenly think that the song was about a girl. Instead, it's about a single guy getting drunk on wine.
Diamond, an avid fencer during his high school/college years, first started writing songs when he was a student at New York University. He was often bored in his classes and found that writing song lyrics was a good way to pass the time. It became his second passion, and eventually it even passed his love of fencing, leading Diamond to start cutting class and trying to get his songs heard by music publishers. One publisher, Sunbeam Music, was interested in Diamond and they offered him a 16-week contract to write songs for them. He gave up his fencing scholarship to accept the job.
After those 16 weeks, his contract wasn't renewed and life for Diamond started getting sketchy. He tried to form an Everly Brothers-like duo with one of his high school friends, but they couldn't produce any hits. Despite the lack of hits, their songs received good reviews and he signed with Columbia Records to continue pursuing a successful music career. Unfortunately, the same thing happened there. He got good reviews on his music, but he wasn't a hit maker. He was dropped from Columbia, and Diamond said that the reason for that was because he couldn't find hooks. The hooks would come later on, and soon Diamond found himself writing songs like "Cherry, Cherry", songs that were littered with hooks. He said that these songs just "suddenly" began to happen, and he found himself under a new contract with Bang Records. (By the way, "Cherry, Cherry" made it to #6. It's a 9)
After having a desire to write more mellow songs instead of those simple pop songs, Diamond began to have disagreements with Bang Records, who wanted him to keep writing songs like "Cherry, Cherry". Diamond left Bang and signed a new contract with Uni Records in 1968. That's where his famous material really began to manifest, and he returned to the top ten in 1969 with songs like "Sweet Caroline" and "Holly Holy", songs that still had hooks, but they were more thoughtful and creative and turned Diamond away from the "simple sound" that he was trying to get away from. ("Sweet Caroline" made it to #4. It's a 5. "Holly Holy" made it to #6. It's a 6) Then at nearly 30 years of age, Diamond finally saw some uncharted territory when "Cracklin' Rosie" became a #1 hit.
"Cracklin' Rosie" isn't like any of Diamond's previous material. Sure, there's some hooks in there, but when you compare it to songs like "Holly Holy" it's very lighthearted, and when you compare it to songs like "Cherry, Cherry", it's corny. Okay, so usually corny isn't a good thing to be labeled as, but in this case it's some of the best corn you've ever had. It's the good kind of corny if that makes any sense. It's in a league of its own when you compare it to the rest of Diamond's material. The backstory of the song's inspiration, coupled with the fact that the narrator is clearly drinking an entire bottle of wine in one night, if I wasn't wiser I'd think that this was a sad song. After listening to it, it's very clear that the song isn't sad at all. We're dealing with perhaps one of the happiest lonely drunks of all time.
While it's not Diamond's best song, and it's clearly no masterpiece, I still like how it's put together. I like the climatic build-up to the "Play it nows" and I like the sharp horn section. Diamond sings the song with a smile, and effortlessly goes from high to low all throughout the track. In other words, "Cracklin' Rosie" is a great showcase for Diamond's voice range. The song is also so immensely lighthearted, that it's hard to not at least like it a little bit. It's catchy, and it's pretty damn fun. The hooks that Diamond was having a hard time finding earlier in his career were now coming to him left and right.
Anyway, Diamond would find more chart success throughout the 1970s. We'll hear from him again in this blog.
GRADE: 8/10
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