London: Singing legend Neil Diamond is grateful to director Quentin Tarantino because the use of the song "Girl, you'll be a woman soon" in "Pulp Fiction" helped him make a comeback.

Contactmusic.com reports that Diamond had initially refused to allow the song to be used because the scene featuring Urge Overkill's rendition of his classic might be seen as glorifying drug use.

The singer said: "When Quentin Tarantino first sent me his script, I'd turned down the use of that song because I thought the scene it was used in was heavily into the drug ambience. I promised myself that I wouldn't allow my music to sensationalise drug use."

Tarantino persisted, saying the song was perfect for the scene and Diamond's publicist eventually convinced him.

Diamond added: "My publisher argued on Quentin's behalf, and I reconsidered, even though I was very, very wary about it. That was really the beginning of the turnaround for me."