Dry Your Eyes

Album: Beautiful Noise (1976)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Diamond wrote this song with Robbie Robertson of The Band, who produced his Beautiful Noise album. In his memoir Testimony, Robertson explained that the song was inspired by "how many people felt after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr."
  • Robbie Robertson played guitar on this track, and Garth Hudson of The Band played Lowry organ. Session drummer Jim Keltner played drums, and Bob Findley played the flugelhorn and bugle.
  • Diamond played this live at The Band's farewell concert on November 25, 1976 in San Francisco. This grand affair featured performances by Bob Dylan, Neil Young and many others; it was filmed by Martin Scorsese and released in 1978 as the documentary The Last Waltz. Diamond played just the one song in his set, and despite going on after the beloved Joni Mitchell, it went over very well.

    He didn't perform it again until his 2017 tour. After the Manchester bombing on May 22 that year, he started dedicating it to the victims.

Comments: 1

  • Mark Bryant from Inverness, FlOn October 17, 2017 - he played it in concert in Birmingham, England - in memory of the 22 who lost their lives in the Manchester bombing in June of 2017.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Grunge Bands Quiz

Grunge Bands QuizMusic Quiz

If the name Citizen Dick means anything to you, there's a chance you'll get some of these right.

Bible Lyrics

Bible LyricsMusic Quiz

Rockers, rappers and pop stars have been known to quote the Bible in their songs. See if you match the artist to the biblical lyric.

The Police

The PoliceFact or Fiction

Do their first three albums have French titles? Is "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" really meaningless? See if you can tell in this Fact or Fiction.

Gary Numan

Gary NumanSongwriter Interviews

An Electronic music pioneer with Asperger's Syndrome. This could be interesting.

Lajon Witherspoon of Sevendust

Lajon Witherspoon of SevendustSongwriter Interviews

The Sevendust frontman talks about the group's songwriting process, and how trips to the Murder Bar helped forge their latest album.

Tim McIlrath of Rise Against

Tim McIlrath of Rise AgainstSongwriter Interviews

Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath explains the meanings behind some of their biggest songs and names the sci-fi books that have influenced him.