Hits Different is a new series that takes a second look at a TV show, song, album, episode, movie, scene, or clip from the past that, in our current context, just hits different. What was the world like when you first considered this piece of culture, and what’s changed? Does it hold up as timeless, or is it better left to the past?Pitch us at [email protected].
I don’t remember when I first heard Neil Diamond’s chesty lounge-rock classic “America” from his 1980 album The Jazz Singer. But I remember when I first thought about it. I was around 10, waiting in the lobby of our local Jewish Community Center (JCC) for my parents to pick me up from Sunday morning activities. A slightly older activity-goer, also presumably waiting for pick-up, button-holed me and arbitrarily began to pontificate about how everyone should have a song they had memorized all the way through. To my considerable mortification, he proceeded to demonstrate while strolling around the room with an air of faux casual cool. “Far! We’ve been traveling far! Without a home, but not without a star!”
