"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]
| "If You Know What I Mean" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Neil Diamond | ||||
| from the album Beautiful Noise | ||||
| B-side | "Street Life" | |||
| Released | June 1976 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:41 | |||
| Label | Columbia Records | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Neil Diamond | |||
| Producer(s) | Robbie Robertson | |||
| Neil Diamond singles chronology | ||||
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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]