abstract
| - %22Holly Holy%22 is a song written and recorded by Neil Diamond with instrumental backing provided by L.A. session musicians from The Wrecking Crew. Released as a single on October 13, 1969, it was quite successful as the follow-on to %22Sweet Caroline%22, reaching number 6 on the U.S. pop singles chart by December. It became a gold record and then eventually platinum.A work with a spiritual focus, %22Holly Holy%22 was influenced by gospel music and was Diamond's favorite of the songs he had written to that point. It begins quietly with acoustic guitar against a bass line, with the sparse lyric stretched with elongated vowels. Gradually the arrangement builds up with a tempo shift in the bridge and a backing choir against strings lasting throughout.%22Holly Holy%22 was later included on Diamond's November 1969 album Touching You, Touching Me. It has been included in live versions on Diamond's Hot August Night (from 1972) and Greatest Hits: 1966–1992 (from 1992), as well as in various compilations.A treatment of %22Holly Holy%22 by Jr. Walker & the All Stars was a modest R&B hit in 1971.Nancy Sinatra covered the song for her second TV special, %22Movin' with Nancy on Stage%22 in 1971. Her studio recording was released on her 2013 album, Shifting Gears.%22Holly Holy%22 was covered in 1998 by UB40. %22Holly Holy%22 was a key soundtrack song in Holy Smoke!In Here Comes the Boom, it is sung by Charice.it was also used in Saving Silverman.%22Holly Holy%22 was played at the end of %22Landing%22, the Season 1 finale of The Astronaut Wives Club.
|