"Love on the Rocks" is a song written by Neil Diamond and Gilbert Bécaud that appeared in the 1980 movie The Jazz Singer and was performed by Diamond on the soundtrack album to the film. It was also released as a single and reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in January 1981. The song also made it to #3 on Billboard's US Adult Contemporary chart.[2][3]Billboard rated it as the #26 pop single overall for 1981.[4] It performed less well in the UK, reaching only #17.[5]
Background and recording
"Love on the Rocks" was one of five collaborations between Diamond and Bécaud for The Jazz Singer.
demo recording of this version was released on Diamond's career retrospective In My Lifetime in 1997.) The writers saw its potential and it was rewritten as a more serious ballad.[6]
In The Jazz Singer, English actor and singer Paul Nicholas, playing a loutish Billy Idol-like singer, performs a punk/new wave version of the song to the chagrin of Diamond's character, Jess Rubin.[7]
Reception
Pittsburgh Press music editor Carl Apone claimed that Diamond was at his best in The Jazz Singer in the songs "Hello Again" and "Love on the Rocks."[14]
Personnel
Neil Diamond – guitar, lead vocals
Richard Bennett
– acoustic and electric guitars
Reinie Press – bass
Dennis St. John – drums
King Errisson – percussion
Alan Lindgren – synthesizer, piano, orchestra arrangements and conductor
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
Later interpretations
Soon after the release of the Diamond recording, "Love on the Rocks" was covered by Millie Jackson on her 1981 album Just a Lil' Bit Country, and Gladys Knight performed the number on the Tom Jones show, a rendition released on the album Great Solo Performances by Guest Artists from the Tom Jones Show, Vol. 1 in 1997.[25] Co-writer Bécaud recorded the song in French as L'Amour est mort on his 1981 eponymous album.[26]The Darkness paid tribute to Neil Diamond's "Love on the Rocks" with their own 2003 song "Love on the Rocks with No Ice."[27]
