If You Know What I Mean

1976 single by Neil Diamond

"If You Know What I Mean"

Single by Neil Diamond

from the album Beautiful Noise

B-side

"Street Life"

Released

June 1976

Genre

Pop rock

Length

3:41

Label

Columbia Records

Songwriter(s)

Neil Diamond

Producer(s)

Robbie Robertson

Neil Diamond singles chronology

"The Last Picasso"
(1975)

"If You Know What I Mean"
(1976)

"Don't Think... Feel"
(1976)

"If You Know What I Mean" is a song written and recorded by Neil Diamond. It is a track from Diamond's 1976 album, Beautiful Noise, and was his third number 1 on the Easy Listening chart, where it spent two weeks. "If You Know What I Mean" went to number 1 for two nonconsecutive weeks and peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[1] In Canada, the song reached number 19 on the pop singles chart^[2] and hit number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.^[3]

Background

Billboard described "If You Know What I Mean" as a "powerful ballad", stating that Diamond sings with more emotion than he had in the recent past, and also praised Robbie Robertson's production.^[4] Cash Box said that the song "has a couple of diverse, yet distinct musical moods" and that "the chorus, underscored by a first class string section, builds the song up to an emotional peak."^[5]

Diamond has stated that the song is a "tender recollection" of a relationship in his teens, in which he successfully seduced a significantly older woman.^[6]

Chart history

Weekly charts

Chart (1976)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)	27
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)^[7]	9
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)^[8]	38
Canada RPM Top Singles^[9]	19
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary^[10]	1
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)^[11]	7
Netherlands (Single Top 100)^[12]	5
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)^[13]	8
UK Singles (OCC)^[14]	35
US Billboard Hot 100^[15]	11
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)^[16]	1
US Cash Box Top 100	16
West Germany (Official German Charts)^[17]	33

Year-end charts

Chart (1976)	Position
Belgium (Ultratop Flanders)^[18]	82
Canada RPM Top Singles^[19]	153
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)^[20]	84
Netherlands (Single Top 100)^[21]	76
US (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual)^[22]	98
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)^[23]	6

References

^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 78.
^ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. July 17, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
^ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. July 17, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
^ "Top Single Picks" (PDF). Billboard. June 12, 1976. p. 72. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
^ "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. June 12, 1976. p. 16. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
^ Bream, Jon (2009). Neil Diamond Is Forever: The Illustrated Story of the Man and His Music (Voyageur Press), page 89.
^ "Neil Diamond – If You Know What I Mean" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
^ "Neil Diamond – If You Know What I Mean" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". March 30, 2012. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. August 7, 1976. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 29, 1976" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
^ "Neil Diamond – If You Know What I Mean" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
^ "Neil Diamond – If You Know What I Mean". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
^ "Neil Diamond: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
^ "Neil Diamond Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
^ "Neil Diamond Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Neil Diamond – If You Know What I Mean" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
^ "Jaaroverzichten 1976". Ultratop. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
^ "Top Singles – Volume 26, No. 14 & 15, January 08 1977". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
^ "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1976".
^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1976" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
^ Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.
^ Top 50 Adult Contemporary Hits of 1976