Dimming of the Day

"Dimming of the Day" was written by Richard Thompson, and Linda Thompson sings lead. On Pour Down Like Silver (Island, November 1975) it closes side two as "Dimming of the Day / Dargai" at 7:16: "Dargai" is a tune by J. Scott Skinner, arranged by Thompson as a solo guitar segue. It was recorded in the summer of 1975 at Sound Techniques in London, with Thompson and John Wood producing. A reviewer at Something Else describes Richard's acoustic guitar, banjo and barely perceptible accordion, hears quiet yearning for a lover at night and calls Linda's vocal deeply moving. Linda Thompson has said the album's songs are spiritual, naming this one, "Beat the Retreat" and "Night Comes In" as all about God, reported second-hand and not verified against a primary page. There is no first-person quote from Richard. The song was not a single and we found no chart entry.

Our upload, titled "Dimming Of The Day / Dargai (Edit)" on the Richard & Linda Thompson Topic channel, is not the album cut but a 3:48 edit from the 2000 Island compilation The Best of Richard & Linda Thompson: The Island Records Years (UK title The End of the Rainbow, IMCD 270), compiled by Bill Levenson; YouTube shows 3:49 and MusicBrainz 3:50. The full recording is also on Walking on a Wire (2009), the Hard Luck Stories box set and Live at the BBC, and Richard has played it solo since, as on Sound Opinions in 2014, in Boston in 2018 and in Harrisburg in 2025.

The list of covers is long: Mary Black (1991), Bonnie Raitt (1994), the Blind Boys of Alabama (1994), Emmylou Harris (1996), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in the film Limbo (1999), the Neville Brothers (1999), David Gilmour in 2002, the Corrs (2005), Alison Krauss and Union Station (2011), Tom Jones (2012) and Alfie Boe with Shawn Colvin (2013). It is also on the soundtrack of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.