Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon by Neil Diamond

Album: Just For You (1967)

Charted: 10

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Diamond wrote this one for the ladies, which made up most of his fan base. David Wild wrote in his book He Is...I Say: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond, "When Diamond first recorded the slow, seductively sensitive song in 1967, it solidified his growing connection with his female fan base, many of whom are apparently still following him all these years later, even if they are no longer properly addressed as 'girl.' Diamond has said that the song was written for all those teenaged girls who would show up at his earliest tour dates and vocally express their tremendous support."
An early Neil Diamond song, "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" was part of his second album, Just For You, produced by his New York City songwriting compatriots Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich (among the hits they wrote: "Be My Baby" and "Hanky Panky"). It climbed to #10 in America, giving him his biggest hit since "Cherry, Cherry" a year earlier. Diamond was just getting started, but "Girl" is a great example of how fearless he was as a songwriter, willing to incorporate unusual sounds and lyrics yet still give them pop appeal.
In 1994 a cover by the alternative rock band Urge Overkill was used in Quentin Tarantino's movie Pulp Fiction, appearing in a famous scene where Uma Thurman's character plays the song on a reel-to-reel tape machine and sings along to it before snorting heroin, which nearly kills her - she's revived by an adrenaline shot to the chest administered by her minder, played by John Travolta (movie fact: to get the shot, Tarantino had Travolta jerk the needle away from Thurman's chest, then reversed it in post).

Diamond, who is very protective of his songs, initially refused to let Tarantino use it because he hated the violent script. He was probably glad he relented. The movie was a huge hit and the soundtrack sold over 3 million copies. It put Diamond back on the cultural radar after a period when his hits had dried up, and certainly boosted his cool factor. Urge Overkill's version reached #59 in America and #37 in the UK, and Diamond's back catalogue got a huge bump in sales.
The Urge Overkill version first appeared on their 1992 EP Stull, released on the independent Chicago label Touch And Go. They only recorded the song because they ran out of originals and needed one more song to fill the EP. When they recorded it, their producer, Mark Kramer from the band Bongwater, told them it would be a hit. Tarantino discovered the song when he picked up a copy of Stull at a record store in Amsterdam. He loved the track and worked it into the overdose scene with Thurman.

By the time Pulp Fiction came out, Urge Overkill had signed with Geffen Records and had released a moderately successful album called Saturation.
Urge Overkill are huge Neil Diamond fans and were thrilled when their cover of his song took off. Their version is sung by group member Nash Kato, who fronts the band along with King Roeser. "I think it made the movie because of the odd, haunting quality we gave it," Roeser told Songfacts.

"We did our version of 'Girl You'll Be A Woman Soon' from memory," he added to Mojo magazine. "The lyrics, I don't even know if they go that way. It speeds up, the fills are all over the place, it's out of tune."
Urge Overkill were also huge fans of Quentin Tarantino and had seen his movie Reservoir Dogs together at a cinema. When they got the call about using "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon," they assumed it was the original Neil Diamond version Tarantino was after. They tried to steer Tarantino to one of their original songs, but it was "Girl" he was after.

"The song hit a nerve because it was in the movie," King Roeser said in his Songfacts interview. "We lucked out. I don't think the song would be part of history without it being associated with the movie."

Urge, though, faltered with their next album, Exit The Dragon, released in 1995. It sold poorly and they broke up two years later. In the mid-2000s they started performing again, and in 2010 they performed at a roast for Quentin Tarantino where they played the song and had a chat with the director. They released their next album, Rock & Roll Submarine, in 2011, followed by Oui in 2022.
In addition to Pulp Fiction, these movies have used the song:

War Dogs (2016)
The Upside of Anger (2005)
Sorority Boys (2002)

And these TV series:

Supernatural ("Our Little World" - 2015)
Friends ("The One with the Stoned Guy" - 1995)
Family Ties ("The Fugitive: Part 1" - 1983)

Comments: 13

Adriana Loborec from CroatiaFor me, it's not so much the lyrics that give me the creeps, but the tonality of his voice and that faint half-salivating sigh. Reminds me of older guys who tried to coerce me to sex with zero regard for my personality and my actual needs. In my experience at least, the older guys were worse than the young ones - much more manipulative. Those memories come up when listening to this song.
Carmen Araujo from NetherlandsH (ugh) Laurie, it takes one to smell one. Grow up, dude.
Von D from United KingdomI don't so much think it's the issue here is that the song is creepy because of the pedo connotations, I think the creepy issue here is the implication that because a young woman is growing and becoming herself she will 'need' a man. Sounds like he's pressuring her, 'you're growing into a young woman you're going to need a man' so I can understand the negative connotations here.
Lucia from New JerseyThe original is pretty good, but I prefer the Urge Overkill version. Through the movie Pulp Fiction is when I first heard it. My older brother even bought the soundtrack and I kept playing that track as crazy. I love the lyrics so much and I find it touching.
IrreverentJust throwing this out there for those who keep trying to call pedophile...pretty sure the guy in the song is supposed to be around the girl's age. Even says she was told "The boy's no good" indicating he, too, was young
Seventhmist from 7th HeavenIf the girl will "be a woman soon" (Safe to assume she's around 17-19), how does that make the singer a pedophile?
Carla Nolte from California Oh grow up Hugh Laurie from Cambridge.
Austin from United StatesI'm not finding any record of Urge Overkill's album Saturation containing the song Girl You'll Be A Woman Soon. As far as I can tell, it was on a Single CD and the Pulp Fiction soundtrack only.
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn April 2nd 1967, "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" by Neil Diamond entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #68; seven weeks later on May 21st, 1967 it peaked at #10 {for 1 week} and spent 11 weeks on the Top 100...
Between 1966 and 1988 he had fifty-six Top 100 records; thirteen made the Top 10 with two reaching #1, "Crackin' Rosie" for 1 week in 1970 and "Song Sung Blue" for 1 week in 1972...
He just missed having a third #1 when "Love On the Rocks" peaked at #2* {for 3 weeks} in 1981...
Plus he almost had three more records make the Top 10 when "Play Me", "If You Know What I Mean", and "Yesterday's Songs" all peaked at #11...
* The three weeks that "Love On the Rocks" was at #2, the #1 record for those three weeks was "(Just Like) Starting Over" by John Lennon.
Violet from VirginiaI do not understand anyone thinking anything negative about this song. I really don't. As for Hugh Laurie, is that YOU, House? lol
Alistair from New York, NyHugh, I used to feel the same way about this song, but that was because I only heard the refrain and never really listened to the lyrics. Also, maybe I was too young to appreciate it. I actually listened to the lyrics of the song recently and suddenly it is a new favorite of mine.

The use of the word 'girl' is a little bit misleading, but it reflects the way we use the term in our society, or at least in the States. A 'girl' who is 17,18,19, even 21 years old is not really referred to as a 'woman', these late teen and college age females are still 'girls'. There is some ambiguity in the way the terms are used, but typically people don't start referring to an adult female as a 'woman' until her mid to late 20s. If someone pointed at a 20 year old female on the street, for example, they would most likely say "that girl over there" not "that woman over there", but a 30 year old female they would usually say "that woman". I think that is more the way the terms are used in this song, but it is clear anyway from the lyrics that the song is referring to a 'girl' who is at least in her late teens, as the girl and the 'man' in the song have an apparently public romantic relationship: "and all they can say is, he's not your kind ... they never get tired of putting me down etc".

The song poignantly describes the experience of many couples where a young woman and a man several years older fall in love with each other, but all the people in her life that care about her are naturally suspicious of him and want to break up the relationship. I think if the age gap is ten years or less then the relationship is within the range of 'normal', with ten years being close to the outer limit before 'abnormal', 'unhealthy', 'creepy' territory is reached, but for many couples where the man is 5-10 years older, they go through this situation where the family imagined their 'girl' falling in love with a 'boy', and suddenly she brings home a 'man' that she is in love with and it is hard on everyone involved. Just my thoughts.

I feel kind of guilty for being a hater of this song in the past, when it is actually a really sweet song.
Hugh Laurie from Cambridge, United KingdomDon't know about you blokes but this song is creepy. It's almost as if the guy in the song is a pedeofile.
Mark from Dublin, IrelandCliff richard recorded a great cover of thiss track in the late sixties, cliff also recorded a number of other diamond classics "ill come running" "i get the feeling" "just another guy" and "put my mind at ease" amongst others...Cliff also sang "girl youll be a woman soon" during his wanted tour 2003/04 because the fans had requested it

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