Rant #2,068: Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)

Singer Neil Diamond has announced that he is retiring from touring.

This announcement was made concurrent to the news that he is suffering from Parkinson's Disease,

His doctors told him to cancel the final leg of his 50th anniversary concert tour, which was to take him to Australia and New Zealand.

The entertainer, who is nearly 77 years old, says that he will still write and record music, but his touring days are over,

Personally, I have not bought a Neil Diamond record in probably about 40 years or more, but his influence on music during the past 50 years has been enormous, and also personally, his music kind of runs through me.

This Brooklyn boy, whose music pretty much shows on his sleeve both his early roots and the roots he laid down in Hollywood, has been one of the most successful singer/songwriters of the rock generation, not only having numerous hits on his own but also writing hits for many others, including the Monkees, and this is really where his journey as a most public figure began, to a certain respect.

Parallel to the success that fellow Brooklynite Carole King was to have, both she and Diamond were already very well established songwriters when the Monkees project came about in 1965.

In fact, Diamond was actually slightly ahead of King, as while King had recorded several sides as a singer, she was still primarily a songwriter when this project came about, while Diamond had already established himself as a singer/songwriter when the Monkees thing came up.

Both signed to Columbia/Screen Gems, they contractually turned out numerous songs for this project.

Diamond's Monkees catalog included "I'm a Believer"--originally written as a country song for the likes of Roy Acuff--"A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You," "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow), and "Love to Love."

The success of those songs as part of the Monkees canon--and the success of the songs Carole King and her then husband, Gerry Goffin, wrote for this project--including "Pleasant Valley Sunday"--gave these two performers the confidence to actually come further out of the shadows and launch their own solo careers full force, pretty much laying the groundwork for the late 1960s/early 1970s singer/songwriter boom that took over the music scene full force back then.

And it all started with Diamond and King, two Brooklyn kids who took their Jewish roots and somehow intertwined them with the rock and roll/California sensibility.

Diamond subsequently became one of the most popular singers on the planet, with numerous gold and platinum hits, including such songs as "Sweet Caroline," "I Am I Said," and "Thank the Lord For the Night Time," and he has also been one of the largest concert draws, too.

His fans basically grew up with him, and you cannot argue with his track record, even though his music became more pap than pop over the years. He gained as many fans as he lost, and remains one of our major music treasures.

And that is why this announcement is such a blow, even to those who fell off the Diamond train years ago, like myself.

You could always count on Diamond to have a record out and be on tour consistently over the past 40 years, but this announcement really puts everything into perspective.

Time does not stand still, we are all getting older, and even icons like Diamond are not immune to aging.

And to now face the scourge of Parkinson's Disease--a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that directly affects motor skills--he will be in probably the biggest battle of his life.

It is unclear now how much Diamond is affected by the disease, and some people live long and prosperous years handling the disease, which has no known cure.

Fellow singer Linda Ronstadt--whose initial musical profile ironically was also lifted by her Monkees association, through her hit "Different Drum" written by Monkee Michael Nesmith, her very first hit that she had as a member of the Stone Poneys--has suffered with Parkinson's Disease for years, and had to curtail her singing career because the disease was gravely affecting her vocal chords.

But whatever the case, Neil Diamond is a real, true to life American treasure, and while the disease will certainly slow him, here's hoping that it doesn't completely knock him out.

And you know what? I don't think it will.