This song's writers, Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, had originally written this song for Little Anthony & The Imperials. (It had a very similar sound to that group's first hit, "Tears on My Pillow"). The pair took the song to George Goldner, The Imperials' producer, over at End Records, who, although having the group record and release the song as End Records single, End 1038, felt that it wasn't quite done the way they felt it should have been done. The Imperials' version didn't chart, so Sedaka took it and decided that he should record the song himself. "The Diary" was issued on Sedaka's 1959 first solo album Rock with Sedaka on RCA. It was reissued on his 1961 record Neil Sedaka Sings Little Devil and His Other Hits, and again in 1963 on the album Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits.

Sedaka's version became his very first hit. The single reached No. 14 on the US Billboard chart.

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