"Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show" is a song written and recorded by

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. He has written and ...

which appeared as the opening track on the eponymous album. Released as a single in early 1969, it hit number 22 on the U.S. pop singles chart and number 9 in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Background

The song tells the story of Brother Love, an evangelist who travels from town to town preaching. In the middle of the song, Diamond gives a

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present context ...

in typical evangelical style. The original 45 mix of the title cut differs from the album version. Aside from being in mono, extra reverb is used throughout the whole song. Neil Diamond's voice was overdubbed onto the lead vocal, creating a harmony. A tubular bell part was added following the phrase "Take my hand in yours...". The fade-out of the song is longer, with a louder horn section and a rattling tambourine part. All of Diamond's CD compilations have used the album mix. ''

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'' described the single as a "powerful piece of rhythm material with a potent lyric." ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said "Revivalist sounds, building in AGP works of late, are added to Neil Diamond's latest opus to strengthen his latent rhythm and give a new direction to the artist's material." ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' called it "a Memphis beauty." ''

The New Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' calls "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show" "genuinely demented."

Other versions

In 1969,

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local r ...

sang a cover version of the song on her Grammy-awarded album ''

Is That All There Is? "Is That All There Is?" is a song written by the American songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It became a hit for the American singer Peggy Lee in 1969. The song was originally performed by Georgia Brown in May 1967 for a televisi ...

''.

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

has performed the song on numerous occasions, including on her 1976-77

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...

, as during her 1983 concert at London's

Dominion Theatre The Dominion Theatre is a West End theatre and former cinema on Tottenham Court Road, close to St Giles Circus and Centre Point, in the London Borough of Camden. Planned as primarily a musical theatre, it opened in 1929, but the following ye ...

, which was later broadcast as the TV special ''Dolly in London''.

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covered it on '' Mama Was a Rock and Roll Singer, Papa Used to Write All Her Songs''.

David Spade David Wayne Spade (born July 22, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and podcaster. His comedic style, in both his stand-up material and acting roles, relies heavily on sarcasm and self-deprecation. For his roles on television, Spade h ...

lip-synched, and then sang the song while imitating Neil Diamond in his 1999 film '' Lost & Found''. Country group The Wright Brothers Band did a cover version of the song, changing "Take my hand in yours" to "Take my hand, dear Lord." In 2019, the song was used in the trailer for the film ''

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ''Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood'' is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Bona Film Group, Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica, and distributed by Sony Pict ...

'', as well as in the film itself, and is included on the film's

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

References

{{authority control 1969 singles Songs written by Neil Diamond Neil Diamond songs 1969 songs Song recordings produced by Chips Moman Obscenity controversies in music Uni Records singles Peggy Lee songs Christianity-related mass media and entertainment controversies Religious controversies in music