SotD - The Ballad of Saving Silverman

Ahead of the release of Neil Diamond's 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition, which comes out on Friday, listen to a previously unreleased song that never quite made it to the film soundtrack it was written for, The Ballad of Saving Silverman...



The 2001 comedy Saving Silverman (known in the UK under its alternate title of Evil Woman), is about fervent Diamond fans (Jack Black and Steve Zahn) who try to keep their buddy (Jason Biggs) from marrying the wrong woman (Amanda Peet) and, although Neil Diamond appeared in the film, he never let on that he had written the perfect theme for it. The catchy tune sums up the film and even includes a spoken-word bridge. "I didn't ask anybody about it or tell anybody about it, but I wrote this song while we were doing the movie," Diamond says. "I liked it a lot, but I thought maybe [the movie] needed a little something from the heart, rather than being clever." Instead, the movie used I Believe in Happy Endings, which Diamond wrote specifically for the film, as well as classic Diamond tunes Cherry Cherry, Hello Again and Holly Holy. After the movie came out, Diamond played the song for director Dennis Dugan, who said he would have likely used the song if he'd known about it, "but it was already too late," Diamond says, "and I just kept it in my drawer for safekeeping until now."



The Neil Diamond 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition is a 6 CD retrospective that spans the singer-songwriter's entire storied career. The collection contains 115 tracks overall set in a hard-cover book, featuring scores of Diamond's most beloved hits alongside demos, rarities and 15 previously unreleased tracks.

Image & info - UMe