Neil Diamond Singing "I'm a Believer"

As you have read or can read in my other blog post today, Neil Diamond wrote the Monkees' hit record "I'm a Believer". He has also recorded his own version of this song multiple times.

His first version of this song was practically a duplication of the Monkees' hit, possibly even a fleshing-out of his demo version of the song. It was first released on his 1967 album Just for You and has appeared on multiple compilation albums from him since then.

He then recorded a new version with an updated arrangement and some new lyrics that was released on his 1980 album September Morn.

Most recently, he released a slow version on his 2010 album Dreams.

During his 2012 concert tour, he sang both the slow version and the traditional uptempo one back-to-back.

The Monkees recorded three other songs that Neil Diamond wrote. Davy Jones sang lead on the other three, "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", "(Look Out) Here Comes Tomorrow", and "Love To Love". I have seen Micky Dolenz perform "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" in concert; he has also done other songs that originally featured another Monkee singing lead. Of these three, Neil has only recorded "Love to Love". It was on his first album, The Feel of Neil Diamond, released in 1966, and was never available on CD until the 2011 release, The Bang Masters: 1966-1968. He performed "(Look Out) Here Comes Tomorrow" during his 2005 concert tour and "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" in some late 1960s shows in places such as New York City's Bitter End.