Neil Diamond: Thank the Lord for the Night Time

Well I can’t prove it, but I remember Neil Diamond’s “Thank the Lord for the Night Time” was used as a commercial bed – I am thinking that is was used for a credit card commercial a few years back. “Thank the Lord for the Night Time” was one of the many hit singles to come from Diamond’s second LP for the BANG label: “Just for You.”

As an aside, BANG was an acronym for the principle owners of the label that included Bert Berns, Ahmet Ertegün, Nesuhi Ertegün, and Gerald (Jerry) Wexler. In addition, their parent organization, Web IV Music, was an acronym of the original owners’ last names Wexler, Ertegün, and Berns. The IV was added as there were four partners. If you notice on the label, the address is the same as Atlantic Records – the company owned by the Ertegün brothers and where Wexler and Berns worked.

I love the production on this record - the rhythm guitar, the drums, the baritone sax, the handclaps, the occasional piano – well, just everything. Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, who were Brill Building song writers along with Diamond, produced the album.

When I think of Neil Diamond, I am reminded of one of my professors at Marshall University in the late 1970s. The late Dr. Craig Monroe would expound upon Diamond’s lyrical content; he was probably Diamond's number one fan. I’m not sure what Craig thought of this song, but I am sure that he liked it as well.

Being that today is Thanksgiving, it is fitting that it is our final “thanks” song for this week. “Thank the Lord for the Night Time” peaked on the US charts at #13 during the summer of 1967. Enjoy and have a Happy Thanksgiving.