The Diamond Life, continued

When Paste writer Bart Blasengame interviewed Neil Diamond, he got more material than we could fit in the pages of our magazine. Here are a few extra exchanges from their conversation.

Paste: A lot of people forget that you were among the giants who performed during The Band’s Last Waltz show. Do you have any particular memories about that show?
Diamond: Well, it was done on Thanksgiving. So I had Thanksgiving dinner in a hurry with my family, then jumped on a plane to San Francisco, then took a cab to the Winterland. I got backstage about a half hour before I was to go on, said "Hi" to a lot of people and did my song ["Dry Your Eyes"]. Then I hopped in a cab, flew back to LA and put my kids to bed. I hear I missed a pretty good after party.

Paste: Some of the performers, Levon Helm and Ron Wood most notably, weren’t big fans of you being there. And then supposedly there was friction between you and Bob Dylan backstage. What really happened?
Diamond: Bob and I chatted a little bit. And I just told him that he’d "better be good that night because that audience was mine. He better be careful."

Paste: How did he respond?
Diamond: He just arched his eyebrow…then proceeded to go out there and do a terrific show. It really made me appreciate Bob as a performer. He was electric that night.

Paste: You were in the news recently when it was revealed that after 40 years of speculation, "Sweet Caroline" was actually written about Caroline Kennedy. How did that it get out?
Diamond: I would’ve preferred to keep the mystery of that. But basically, I thought that if I was ever going to tell anybody it would be directly to Caroline when and if I met her. Then that opportunity actually came up. It was her birthday and her husband [Edwin Schlossberg] called up and said, "Neil, could you sing happy birthday to Caroline?" I agreed to do it so we set up a cross-country satellite thing in my little studio here in LA. I asked if they’d mind if I sang "Sweet Caroline." So the connection was made to this gathering at the New York Public Library. I said "hi" to Caroline, said a few words, and then I told her the story about how the song title came from a photo I’d seen of her and her little pony. I was an unknown songwriter at the time and it was just an idea I had. She was thrilled. Somehow, I suppose somebody from the press was there and it got picked up. The news went everywhere…I was overwhelmed by it.

Paste: You were the inaugural winner of the Worst Acting Razzie and have been mocked in both film (Saving Silverman) and television (Will Ferrell’s impersonation)—both of which you participated in. Is a healthy sense of humor essential for survival?
Diamond: Well, when you’re a performer you’re open game for satire. I take it as a compliment. I’ve never been bruised. My ego is intact. I’m perfectly fine about it…sometimes even flattered. I think it can be a tribute, though I guess it could be insulting if you let it be. I’ve just never had a problem with the usage of my name and people playing off my image…whatever that is.

Paste: With such a massive body of work there’s got to be a few clunkers in there-- songs that maybe you wish you didn’t have to live with.
Diamond: There are a few that make me wince. But no, I’m gonna keep that private and let them make me wince in the privacy of my own home.