Play Me

For other uses, see Play Me (disambiguation).

"Play Me"
Single by Neil Diamond
from the album Moods
B-side"Porcupine Pie"
ReleasedAugust 1972[1]
GenrePop
LabelUni 55346[2]
Songwriter(s)Neil Diamond
Producer(s)Tom Catalano
Neil Diamond singles chronology
"Song Sung Blue"
(1972) 		"Play Me"
(1972) 		"Walk On Water"
(1972)

"Play Me" is a 1972 song by Neil Diamond from his album Moods. The song, the first single from Moods,[3] was recorded in February 1972 in Los Angeles.[4] It was released as a single in May 1972 and peaked at #11 in the United States[1] in September of that year.[5] It was listed by Billboard as #27 of his best 30 songs.[6]

The "catchy pop-rock"[7] song is a medium-tempo waltz performed in 3/4 time at a standard tempo of 102 bpm.[8] Play Me features broken chords played on the acoustic guitar, courtesy of Diamond's long-time collaborator Richard Bennett.[8] While Bennett had played on a few songs on Diamond's 1971 album Stones, Moods was his first full collaboration with him, establishing Bennett as one of Diamond's essential players, playing on every Diamond album until 1987 and touring with him for 17 years.[9]

  1. ^ a b Caulfield, Keith (December 9, 2006). "Neil Diamond's Top Singles". Billboard. p. 57. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  2. ^ "Top 40 Easy Listening". Billboard. August 26, 1972. p. 36. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  3. ^ Jackson, Laura (2005). Neil Diamond: His Life, His Music, His Passion. ECW Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-55022-707-9. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  4. ^ "Talent in Action". Billboard. February 19, 1972. p. 16. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  5. ^ Lonergan, David F. (2005). Hit records, 1950–1975. Scarecrow Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-8108-5129-0. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  6. ^ Bronson, Fred (2003). Billboard's hottest hot 100 hits (3 ed.). Watson-Guptill. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-8230-7738-0. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  7. ^ Bogdanov, Vladimir; Chris Woodstra; Stephen Thomas Erlewine (2002). All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and soul (3 ed.). Hal Leonard. p. 308. ISBN 978-0-87930-653-3. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  8. ^ a b Wild, David (2009). He Is . . . I Say: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond. Seal Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-0-306-81835-6. Retrieved May 1, 2010.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Childs, Zac (May 3, 2007). "Features— Artists: Richard Bennett". Vintage Guitar. Archived from the original on March 8, 2009. Retrieved May 2, 2010.