SONG & HIT DETAILS
Artist Name: NEIL DIAMOND
Song Author: Neil Diamond
Year Recorded: 1980
SONG PROFILE
America
Single by Neil Diamond
from the album The Jazz Singer soundtrack
B-side “Songs of Life”
Released April 25, 1981
Format 7″
Recorded 1980
Genre Pop
Length 3:27 (single version)
4:19 (album version)
Label Capitol
Writer(s) Neil Diamond
Producer Bob Gaudio
“America” also known as “They’re Coming To America” or “Coming To America” is the name of a patriotic song written and originally recorded by Neil Diamond, released in 1980 as part of The Jazz Singer soundtrack album.
The song was a hit single in 1981 and was Diamond’s sixth number one on the Adult Contemporary chart and went to number eight on the Billboard Hot 100.
Although the single version was a studio recording, it sounds live because of crowd overdubs in the song.
The song’s theme is a positive interpretation of the history of immigration to the United States, and seems to take place both during the early 1900s wave as well as in contemporaneous times.
The traditional patriotic song “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”. In Diamond’s concerts, the song is a very popular number both home and abroad, with a large United States flag often displayed from the rafters on cue to the lyric, “Every time that flag’s unfurled / They’re coming to America.”
The most popular version seems to be the live concert cut Neil Diamond sings during The Jazz Singer’s finale.
The cut in the film was the first take of the song in front of nearly 1,900 extras mixed in among the main and supporting cast members of the film.
It was the second song played on the first broadcast day for Z100 New York on August 3, 1983.