Longfellow Serenade

"Longfellow Serenade"
Single by Neil Diamond
from the album Serenade
B-side "Rosemary's Wine"
Released 1974 (US)
Format 7" (45 rpm)
Length 3:22
Label Columbia
Writer(s) Neil Diamond
Producer(s) Tom Catalano
Neil Diamond singles chronology
"Skybird"

(1974)		 "Longfellow Serenade"
(1974)		 "I've Been This Way Before"
(1975)

"Longfellow Serenade" is the title of a 1974 song by the American singer-songwriter Neil Diamond. It was written by Diamond, produced by Tom Catalano, and included on Diamond's album Serenade.

"Longfellow Serenade" spent two weeks at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in November 1974.[1] It became Diamond's second #1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, following his 1972 single, "Song Sung Blue".[2]

Diamond described "Longfellow Serenade" in the liner notes to his 1996 compilation album, In My Lifetime: "Occasionally I like using a particular lyrical style which, in this case, lent itself naturally to telling the story of a guy who woos his woman with poetry."[2] The title of the song is a reference to the 19th-century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.[2] Diamond chose to reference Longfellow specifically after recalling an instance in which, while in his teens, Diamond had used one of the poet's works to successfully seduce a significantly older woman.[3]


See also

References

  1. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 177.
  2. 1 2 3 Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications), page 150.
  3. ↑ Jackson, Laura (2005). Neil Diamond: His Life, His Music, His Passion (ECW Press), page 112.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/9/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.