Songfacts®:

• Neil Diamond told Q magazine July 2008 that he wrote this song to convince Robbie Robertson, the guitarist with The Band, to produce his album. He explained: "We knew each other peripherally: we both lived in Malibu. But I wanted to write a song to convince him to work with me. I was at a hotel in New York with my two little girls. We were on the fourth floor, the windows were wide open, and right beneath us on Fifth Avenue there was a Puerto Rican parade going by. The music was amazing, full of rhythm and joy. My daughter Marjorie said, 'What a beautiful noise, Daddy.' Boom! I had the title, I wrote the song and when I played it to Robbie he liked it." Robbie Robertson went on to produce the album for which this song became the title track.