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This song was written by Al Kooper, Bob Brass, and Irwin Levine. They originally came together under publisher Hal Webman and his company We Three Music, though they eventually turned to freelancing songs they had written. During this freelance period, they sold "This Diamond Ring" to Aaron Schroeder for $300. They originally wrote it with The Drifters in mind. The Drifters turned this song down, so next Bobby Vee's producer Snuff Garrett picked it up. However, Garrett turned the song over to Gary Lewis instead.

Gary Lewis (born Cary Levitch, name legally changed at age 2) is the son of comedian Jerry Lewis, who lived two doors down from producer Snuff Garrett's house. The recording session that produced this song was financed by Gary's mother, Patty Lewis.

No Playboys play any instruments on the record - Garrett preferred to use veteran session musicians, including Leon Russell (piano), Tommy Alsup (guitar) and Hal Blaine (drums). Gary's lead vocal was "helped" by Garrett overdubbing the voice of session singer Ron Hicklin (sources disagree if the Playboys' voices also made it to the record).

Gary Lewis and the Playboys had 7 Top-10 hits in two years (1964-66) before breaking up as a result of Gary being drafted into the army.

In his book Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards, Al Kooper relates that he and his fellow songwriters, Brass, and Levine were "revolted" by the Playboy's version, because they'd removed the soul from what should have been an R&B song and "made a teenage milkshake out of it." Kooper in the same book goes on to recount: "To out surprise, after a hype-ridden sendoff on The Ed Sullivan Show (once again, several of our songs were showcased by Sullivan acts), all you could hear on the radio was our turkey milkshake." The song eventually climbed up the charts to #1, pushing out "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'."

Comments:

Hi all, My sincere apologies to the great songwriter Al Kooper for misrepresenting this. Lester, I'm sorry, but I never saw Clay Cole. Anyone know how to get a copy of Kooper's "You never know who your friends are" album? That would be a grand addition to my collection. -- John Schubert, Coopersburg, PA
- John, Coopersburg, PA

I happen to have the same record that Charlie has, but I also have another copy of the same record with the flip side being Hard To Find credited to (LeRoy Vinnegar).
- Ryan, Troy, MI

Al Kooper, is that you? Man, I love 'Child is the Father to Man'. Great album. Have you ever heard Black Oak Arkansas' cover of 'I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know'? And for John Shubert, I remember Lloyd Thaxton. Do you remember Clay Cole?
- Lester, New York City, NY

I have NEVER claimed to have written TDR myself, I wrote the MUSIC myself and Brass & Levine wrote the words, We always split everything three ways equally however. The song was not as lucrative as John Shubert thinks it was for me as I earn 16 2/3 percet in royalties as I am one-third writer and do not participate in then publishing The song was originally written for The Drifters as an R&B ditty which was why I was so horrified initially by the Gary Lewis record. My version retains the original r&b feel, if anyone is interested.
- Al, New York, NY

I have the Liberty 45 rpm of This Diamond Ring and the label credits the songwritting to (Kooder-Levine-Bras) The flip side is Tijuana Wedding credited to (Gary Lewis-Leon Russell-T. Lesslie)
- Charlie, Eugene, OR

Someone else wrote in these comments that Al Kooper co-wrote this song. Uh, according to Kooper himself, he wrote the song himself. I've seen Kooper talk about it in concert and heard him in a radio interview, and he sure acted like it was his and his alone. He said he was very disappointed at how the Playboys version sounded, and sheepish that it became such a hit (and lucrative for him) even though he disliked it so. One of Kooper's albums ("Act like nothing's wrong") has his version of this song, which I don't care for, but he vastly prefers. Also: I remember Gary Lewis's group "performing" this song (lip sync-ing) on the Lloyd Thaxton show. Lewis sat at a drum set with two bass drums. Shortly after that, he stopped druming and stood out in front, allegedly singing. -- John Schubert, Coopersburg, PA
- John, Coopersburg, PA

Gary Lewis took basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina during the fall/winter of 1966.
- Jeff, Gaithersburg, MD