Neil Diamond on Parkinson's and "A Beautiful Noise"

[Music] now pay it now lay it down [Music]  he's one of our best-selling musicians of   all time a legend in anyone's book but  five years ago Neil Diamond's life took   a challenging turn Anthony Mason  has a story about coming to terms [Music]   you wanted to make a musical yeah I think  all songwriters and performers are have   that not everybody gets a Broadway  show not everybody does [Music]   Diamond has one now A Beautiful Noise  the story of a singer who sold more than   130 million records what was it like for  you to go to New York and see the opening   well it was kind of like a dream come true because  I mean literally it's like what is happening foreign [Applause] [Music] whose rarely performed since he was diagnosed with   Parkinson's disease led the crowd in  a chorus of Sweet Caroline [Music] at the theater that night there was  a lot of love in the room for you   there was a lot of love and I felt it were you ever getting flashbacks  in the middle of the show   I think constantly from the minute it started  like everything was a flashback [Laughter] as the show was being developed Diamond says  he told the producers and writers I wanted   warts and all I didn't necessarily  love it once at all but I wanted it   will Swenson plays the young Neil Diamond  whose Olympian ambition undoes two marriages Mark Jacoby plays the older Diamond still haunted   by self-doubt this show is part of my  Psychotherapy and uh it hurt I didn't   like looking at myself in many of the scenes what  part was hardest for you it always pretty hard I   was a little embarrassed I was flattered  and I was scared what were you scared of   being found out is the scariest thing you can  hope because we all have a facade yeah and the   truth be known through all of them I'm not some  big star I'm I'm just me I'll be what I am [Music]   just a Jewish Kid From Brooklyn who wanted to be a  songwriter the last time you were here was when uh sometime BC 30. in 2005 Diamond  took us back to The Bitter End   the Greenwich Village Club where the  singer got his start can I step up on   the stage and just see what it  feels like to be a 20 25 again [Music]   it was my beginning it was right here [Music] in  the 60s Neil Diamond climbed the charts [Music]   in the 70s he conquered the  world [Music] [Applause] [Music]   Neil Diamond no by the 80s he was  one of its biggest concert brawls in the 90s no one sold more  tickets than the Jewish Elvis   it's a beautiful noise when we met once more  in 2014 he was about to go on the road again   obviously you don't have to do this it's  just interesting that you that you want to   I have to you do yeah I I don't  want to so where does the have to   come from then uh I have to because  if I want to maintain any self uh I don't know why I have to but in January  2018 Diamond revealed he'd been diagnosed   with Parkinson's disease a neurological  disorder that abruptly ended his touring   career how hard has it been for you to give  it up I still haven't given it up yet uh   it's very hard for the first time since that  diagnosis he talked about facing Parkinson's   in a sense I was in denial for the first year  or two when the doctor sold me what it was   I was just not ready to accept it oh okay yeah  I'll see you you know whenever you want to see   me but I have work to do so I'll see you later his  acceptance he admits is a work in progress you're   still doing it I'm still doing it and I don't like  it yeah okay so this is the the hand that God's   given me and I have to make the best of it and  uh so I am was there a moment in that process   where you you finally sort of did  say to yourself I I accept this   I I think this has just been in the last  few weeks really but somehow a calm has moved in in the hurricane of my life  and things have gotten very quiet as quiet as this recording studio yeah and uh I  like it I I find that I like myself better uh um   easier on people uh I'm easier on myself And The  Beat Goes On and it will go on long after I'm gone Diamond still regularly comes here to his  Archangel studio in La where the Halls   are decked with decades worth of awards I  still can sing do you need to still sing   uh well I like singing I've been doing it for 50  years and I I I enjoy it what happens inside you   when you sing I feel good yeah it's like all the  systems of my mind and my body are working as one   yeah when I'm singing and it's a great feeling  giving you a pretty amazing life I've had a   pretty amazing life it's true and uh the thing was  that I wasn't always able to look back on it and   be comfortable with it smile  and about feel I was worth it   I think all of that good stuff is starting  to come into my life why do you think that is   well I can't really fight this thing so how to  accept it this uh Parkinson's disease and uh   there's no cure there's no getting  away from it you can't just say okay   enough already let's get back to life  yeah it doesn't work like that but   I've come to accept what limitations  I have and still have great days great days like an opening night I just had to take life as it comes to  me enjoy it be thankful that I've had it   especially having the life that I've had for Neil Diamond a life  worthy of a Broadway musical   what's it mean to you well to paraphrase  Sally Field they like me they really like me

Channel: CBS Sunday Morning

Views: 476,660

Keywords: CBS Sunday Morning, CBS News, news, neil diamond, parkinsons, a beautiful noise, broadway

Id: ovIeltiEQcE

Length: 9min 40sec (580 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 02 2023