Who knew the story about lonely Indians and a bottle of wine in northern Canada would be the backdrop to the first No. 1 hit for Rock 'n Roll Hall of Famer Neil Diamond?
But, as Diamond would tell the story to Rolling Stone magazine writer David Wild, that was such the case when writing "Cracklin' Rosie" in 1970.
Yeah, "Cracklin' Rosie" was all about a bottle of wine and not about some random girl Diamond's character met one night and had a fling.
"Cracklin' Rosie" was a brand of red wine sold in Canada that was popular around a native tribe in the northern part of the country. In this particular tribe, there were more men than women in it, so the ones who didn't have a woman stayed back and were left with just their bottle of wine to drink for the weekend, pretending that it was their woman and not the flesh-and-blood kind of female.
Diamond heard the tale of these lonely Indians while he was up in Toronto on tour and thought it would be a perfect backdrop to a new song. So when he wrote it, he made the wine feel like a woman, writing, "Oh, I love my Rosie child. You got the way to make me happy. You and me we go in style. Cracklin' Rose you're a store-bought woman, but you make me feel like a guitar hummin'. So hang on to me, girl, our song keeps runnin' on."
It could be easily seen that Diamond might have had a woman in mind when writing "Crackin' Rosie," but great songwriters have a way of interrupting that thought for something completely different. Producer Tom Catalano, Diamond's longtime producer at Uni Records, thought the song would be a hit and made it the leadoff single from Diamond's newest album, "Tap Root Manuscript."
Turns out, though, this hit was a little different than anything else Diamond had done. You see, Diamond had scored 12 Top 40 hits between his work at both Bang Records and Uni Records and had scored just one Top 5 hit -- 1969's "Sweet Caroline." Sure, Diamond had a No. 1 hit as a songwriter with the Monkees' "I'm A Believer," but a No. 1 hit as both a singer and songwriter would be a bigger deal.
"Cracklin' Rosie," backed with horns, legendary Wrecking Crew member Hal Blaine's percussion, some orchestration, backing vocals, hand claps and Diamond's acoustic guitar, debuted at No. 62 on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of August 22, 1970, and one week later, leaped 22 places to get to No. 40. The rush up the chart was on for "Crackin' Rosie," as it moved up from No. 40 to No. 29 to No. 22 to No. 12 the week of September 19, 1970. A week later, September 26, 1970, Diamond was in the Top 10 at No. 6. Then the next week, "Cracklin' Rosie" jumped up two more places to tie for his biggest hit ever at No. 4.
But on October 10, 1970, Diamond finished the run to his first No. 1 hit as "Cracklin' Rosie" leaped up three places to the top. It would hold at No. 1 for just one week before the Jackson 5's fourth straight No. 1 hit, "I'll Be There," displaced it and sent Diamond down the chart.
"Cracklin' Rosie," though, was not just a No. 1 hit. It was a happening. Throughout college campuses on the West Coast of this country, students were freely swigging the "Rosie," which some Diamond fans have figured over the years was a Sparkling Mateus Rose, a low-priced and artificially carbonated product. Some have claimed the "Rosie" was a Centerra Wine Company favorite, a Richards Wild Irish Rose.
Either way, the sales of wine went up in 1970 thanks to "Cracklin' Rosie" and Diamond. He would have two more No. 1 hits throughout the 1970s -- neither about alcohol in "Song Sung Blue" in 1972 and "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" in 1978, his duet with Barbra Streisand.
However, this would not be the last time a taste of the red stuff would top the chart with Diamond's pen all over it. In 1988, the British reggae band UB40 scored their first No. 1 hit with a song originally done by Diamond in 1968. The title? "Red Red Wine."
Pretty sure that Diamond has heard all the "lush" talk over the years. But, like everything else, he takes it all in stride. Diamond still performs "Cracklin' Rosie" and all his hits on tour. In 2011, Diamond was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame at long last.
Diamond has been blessed to have the kind of career he's had for over 50 years.
Then again, the bottle he was getting his first No. 1 hit wasn't too bad, either.
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