The Sophomore Jump - Neil Diamond's 'Just For You'

Our new series about brilliant second records kicks off with a genius slab from a songwriting ninja and oft under appreciated performer.

Neil Diamond seemed destined for a quiet, upper middle class lifestyle as he hit adulthood. After from graduating high school, which he attended with Barbra Streisand and chess Grand Master Bobby Fischer, Diamond enrolled in the pre-med program at New York University and also starred on the Fencing team. As he continued his pre-med work, Diamond began to find he was much more interested in writing songs than he was in the massive workload to become a doctor. In 1962, just ten credits shy of graduation, Neil Diamond left medical school to take a 16 week songwriting job at Sunbeam Music.

After his 16 week stint at Sunbeam, he was not rehired. Diamond claims that for the next few years he managed to sell about one song a week, which gave him just enough money to scrape by. He would live in squalid conditions, often eating on less than 35 cents a day - …