If You Know What I Mean

"If You Know What I Mean"
Single by Neil Diamond
from the album Beautiful Noise
B-side"Street Life"
ReleasedJune 1976
Genre
Length3:41
LabelColumbia Records
Songwriter(s)Neil Diamond
Producer(s)Robbie Robertson
Neil Diamond singles chronology
"The Last Picasso"
(1975) 		"If You Know What I Mean"
(1976) 		"Don't Think... Feel"
(1976)

"If You Know What I Mean" is a song written and recorded by Neil Diamond. It is a track from Diamond's 1976 album, Beautiful Noise, and was his third number 1 on the Easy Listening chart, where it spent two weeks. "If You Know What I Mean" went to number 1 for two nonconsecutive weeks and peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.[1] In Canada, the song reached number 19 on the pop singles chart[2] and hit number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.[3]

Background

Billboard described "If You Know What I Mean" as a "powerful ballad", stating that Diamond sings with more emotion than he had in the recent past, and also praised Robbie Robertson's production.[4] Cash Box said that the song "has a couple of diverse, yet distinct musical moods" and that "the chorus, underscored by a first class string section, builds the song up to an emotional peak."[5]

Diamond has stated that the song is a "tender recollection" of a relationship in his teens, in which he successfully seduced a significantly older woman.[6]

Chart history

See also

References

  1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 78.
  2. ^ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. July 17, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  3. ^ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. July 17, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  4. ^ "Top Single Picks" (PDF). Billboard. June 12, 1976. p. 72. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  5. ^ "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. June 12, 1976. p. 16. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
  6. ^ Bream, Jon (2009). Neil Diamond Is Forever: The Illustrated Story of the Man and His Music (Voyageur Press), page 89.
  7. ^ "Neil Diamond – If You Know What I Mean" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  8. ^ "Neil Diamond – If You Know What I Mean" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  9. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". March 30, 2012. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  10. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. August 7, 1976. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  11. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 29, 1976" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  12. ^ "Neil Diamond – If You Know What I Mean" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  13. ^ "Neil Diamond – If You Know What I Mean". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  14. ^ "Neil Diamond: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  15. ^ "Neil Diamond Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  16. ^ "Neil Diamond Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  17. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Neil Diamond – If You Know What I Mean" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  18. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1976". Ultratop. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  19. ^ "Top Singles – Volume 26, No. 14 & 15, January 08 1977". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
  20. ^ "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1976".
  21. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1976" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  22. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.
  23. ^ Top 50 Adult Contemporary Hits of 1976


Stub icon

This 1970s pop song–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.