Neil Diamond Had a ‘Hugely Difficult Time’ Writing 1 of His Christmas Hits
At 81 years old, Neil Diamond doesn’t perform his music hits often, but his classic Christmas music will never go out of style. The “Sweet Caroline” songwriter is known for several holiday hits, but they haven’t been easy to write. Here’s what Diamond said about his hit song, “Christmas Prayers.”
Neil Diamond talked about dabbling into Christian holiday music as a Jewish songwriter
Neil Diamond is a Jewish songwriter, but he’s always loved Christmas music. He said that he found a lot of joy in Christmas music as a young boy, as it wasn’t part of his annual holiday celebration.
“I think it’s because we’re denied Christmas in our youth: It’s not part of our liturgy, it’s not part of our holiday list, but we want it,” he told The Current. “I think when most Jewish people grow up, they just bathe in Christmas music, and I’m no different. I didn’t observe Christmas, I didn’t have a Christmas tree, I didn’t get Christmas gifts growing up. So here I am, an adult, with the chance to do a Christmas album. And it was a joyful experience for me.”
Diamond is far from the first Jewish songwriter to dabble in Christian holiday music. Irving Berlin was born Jewish and composed “White Christmas” in the ’40s. Bob Dylan, another Jewish-born songwriter, created his Christmas album in 2009.
The songwriter struggled to write his hit, ‘Christmas Prayers’
While Neil Diamond adored listening to Christmas music in his youth, writing hasn’t always been easy. He reflected on how difficult it was to write “Christmas Prayers.”
“‘Christmas Prayers’ was a really lengthy process and a hard song to write,” he told the Irish Times. “I wanted it to soothe and serve a purpose. Firstly, for my wife, and then for anyone else who might listen to it. It was written over a year and a half, which is a long period of gestation. You would have to go back 40 years to “I Am . . . I Said,” since I had a hugely difficult time. That was maybe for different reasons.”
“Christmas Prayers” is a sweet tune off of Diamond’s Acoustic Christmas album that reflects on no longer having some loved ones around for the holidays.
“It came out of my wife Katie’s heart and mind,” Diamond told Billboard about its conception. “She was feeling blue about the loss 20 years ago of her grandmother, and it all came up about two Christmases ago. And she asked, or maybe I volunteered, to try and write something that would make her feel a little bit better. I did and I liked the song a lot and I was in the studio with a group of musicians.”
How many Christmas albums does Neil Diamond have?
Neil Diamond has four Christmas albums — The Christmas Album, The Christmas Album Volume II, A Cherry Cherry Christmas, and Acoustic Christmas. He released his first album in 1992, his second in 1994, his third in 2009, and his final album in 2016.
In 2022, he released a holiday compilation titled A Neil Diamond Christmas that encompasses all four albums. Diamond had his engineer remaster every track on A Neil Diamond Christmas.
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