A cover of Neil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon” appears in Quentin Tarantino pulp Fiction. After reading the script of pulp Fiction, Diamond denied Tarantino permission to use the song as the lead. During an interview, Diamond explained why he changed his mind.

Why Neil Diamond Wrote ‘Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon’

Tarantino’s films often make expressive use of rock music. For example, Urge Overkill’s cover of “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon” appears in a famous scene from pulp Fiction. During the sequence, Uma Thurman’s character dances to the song before overdosing on heroin.

Diamond explained why he didn’t want “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon” on pulp Fiction. “At the time I wrote it in my career, my audience was teenage girls and the song came out of that context,” he told Billboard. “I wrote it while I was on a Dick Clark where is the action tower; the public triggered it.

“And then when Quentin Tarantino a few years later came along and wanted to use it to pulp Fiction, I turned it down because I promised myself that I wouldn’t use any of my songs for drug references or even smoking cigarettes,” Diamond added.

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Why Neil Diamond Allowed Quentin Tarantino To Use The Song In ‘Pulp Fiction’

Diamond revealed how he reacted to the pulp Fiction scenario. “I got a script, read it and thought it was wonderful, but it didn’t fit the guidelines I had set for myself,” he recalls. “And then I talked to a good friend about it, my friend Dave Rosner, who was my editor, and he explained that Quentin Tarantino was a real star of the future and that I should take it as a serious picture.”

Diamond was ultimately satisfied with the cover of Urge Overkill’s song that appeared in the film. He also felt that “Girl You’ll Be a Woman Soon” fit well into the pulp Fiction scene that first made him think. The cover remains one of Urge Overkill’s most famous songs.

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The way the world reacted to ‘Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon’

Diamond’s version of “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon” was not a hit. It did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Diamond released the song on the album Just for you. Just for you was a modest success at best, peaking at No. 80 on the Billboard 200 and remaining on the chart for 19 weeks.

Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon” was also not popular in the UK. According to The Official Charts Company, the song did not chart in the UK. Just for you had no impact on the UK ranking. “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon” wasn’t a big hit, but pulp Fiction gave the song a place in film history.

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