Neil Diamond: Done Too Soon - BBC Concert - 1971 (My "Stereo Studio Sound" Re-Edit)

Neil Diamond: Done Too Soon - BBC Concert - 1971 (My "Stereo Studio Sound" Re-Edit)

"Done Too Soon" is a song written, composed and performed by Neil Diamond, and released on his 1970 album Tap Root Manuscript. "Done Too Soon" is a song of mortality that is divided, stylistically, into two sections: a fast-paced first part and a slower, more introspective second part. Cash Box described the song by saying that "the up-tempo thrust that opens the track gives way to a commentary, inspirational close."

The slower, more introspective second part notes the commonalities between twenty-five individuals - Gunga Din being the one fictional character mentioned because his name both rhymed within the context of the lyrics and was a fit to the syllabic count. Those commonalities were these: having sweated beneath the same sun, having looked up in wonder at the same moon, and having wept when it was all done ... for being "done too soon"; that is, whether their life was long or short, for each individual the end came too early.
"It was kind of esoteric, especially at that time. But it's just me trying to say something a little different, just try and jog something in a person's memory, or to elicit a reaction. That's what my job is, to do something a little bit different, and yet something that's me and something that's you." - Neil Diamond

"Done Too Soon" spent five weeks on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart as the B-side of "I Am... I Said" reaching #65. (The A-side charted for 10 weeks peaking at #4.)