Sweet Caroline

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"Sweet Caroline"
Single by Neil Diamond
Released	September 16, 1969
Genre	Pop Rock
Length	3:21
Label	UNI/MCA
Writer(s)	Neil Diamond
Producer	Tommy Cogbill Billy Joel Chips Moman
Neil Diamond singles chronology
"Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" (1969) "Sweet Caroline" (1969) "Holly Holy" (1969)

"Sweet Caroline" is a pop song written and performed by Neil Diamond and officially released on September 16, 1969, as a single. There are three distinct mixes of this song. The original mono 45 mix had a loud orchestra and glockenspiel compared to the stereo version on the Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show LP. The third version was a remix found only on the initial CD release of Neil Diamond's "His 12 Greatest Hits". This version has the orchestra mixed down very noticeably and has the background vocals mixed up. It has a longer fade as well. The song reached #4 on the Billboard chart and eventually went platinum for sales of one million singles.^[1]

In the fall of 1969, Diamond performed "Sweet Caroline" on several television shows. It later reached #8 on the UK singles chart in 1971. In a 2007 interview, Diamond revealed the inspiration for "Sweet Caroline" was President John F. Kennedy's daughter, Caroline Kennedy, who was eleven years old at the time.^[2][3] Diamond sang the song to her at her 50th birthday celebration in 2007.^[4]

Contents 1 At sporting events 2 Covers 3 In entertainment 4 References

[edit] At sporting events

"Sweet Caroline" is popular at sporting events. Sherrie Levy, Neil Diamond's press agent, remarked, "I'm not sure how it happened, but we're very pleased that it happened". The song has been a tradition at Boston's Fenway Park since at least 1997, and it has been played at every game in the middle of the eighth inning since 2002 by the influence of Amy Tobey, a production agent responsible for the audio played over the park's loudspeakers.^[5] It is also played at sporting events at the University of Pittsburgh.^[6] In addition, the Carolina Panthers have also played the song after every home win since 2008.

[edit] Covers

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• In his February 1970 shows at the International, Elvis Presley sang "Sweet Caroline". It was so popular, the song remained in his set list for many years. On the first released version from the On Stage album Presley introduced it, saying "A guy had a song out last year. It's a beautiful song and the guy's name is Neil Diamond. I'd like to sing it for you now." Another live version from August 1970 was released in the movie Elvis - That's The Way It Is. On August 21, 1970, Presley sang the song live in concert at in the Las Vegas International Hotel as Neil Diamond sat in the audience; Presley later introduced Diamond and fooled around with one line of Holly Holy.
• In 1970, Anthony Armstrong Jones took the song into the Top 40 of the country charts. In 1972, Bobby Womack took it into the Top 20 of the R&B charts (#16). A number of other artists have recorded covers, including Andy Williams, Bobby Goldsboro, the Ventures, Ray Conniff, Boots Randolph, Frank Sinatra, Guster, and Waylon Jennings.
• In the 1996 film Beautiful Girls, Timothy Hutton leads a sing-along performance of the song in a Massachusetts bar.
• In Ireland, in December 2001, a dance version by Dustin the Turkey reached number one in the singles charts, his last number-one hit to date. It was also covered by the punk music band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on their album Have a Ball. "Sweet Caroline" has also been covered by Reggae group Bunny Rugs & The Upsetters in 1974 on their album To Love Somebody.
• In September 2004, Jimmy Buffett included "Sweet Caroline" in a medley with "Why Don't We Get Drunk" during both of his Fenway Park shows (September 10/12, 2004) stating, "Never again will those songs be played together in one medley at Fenway Park."
• Dave Matthews Band followed suit and performed "Sweet Caroline" at Fenway Park on July 8, 2006 and again on March 24, 2007, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• During U2's PopMart Tour, U2's guitarist The Edge performed several karaoke versions of "Sweet Caroline".
• The song was covered by The Railbenders, a Denver-based hard-country band on their 2003 release Segundo.
• Angelo Venuto recorded a techno version of the song.
• Bobby Darin performed the song live, but at a slower, more dramatic tempo. This cover is available on the HYENA DVD Bobby Darin- Seeing Is Believing.
• Jonathan Coulton often performs the song with Paul and Storm as part of his encore.
• Sweet Caroline is regularly sung by Anthony Cumia (Opie and Anthony) during Pest gatherings.
• On season 7 of American Idol, runner-up David Archuleta performed this song the night Neil Diamond mentored the contestants.
• Joe Dolan recorded a cover shortly before his death.
• The Jonas Brothers performed a cover of the song on their 2009 World Tour.
• DJ Ötzi released 2009 a cover version of the song.
• Mark Salling covered this song on an episode of Glee.

[edit] In entertainment

• The song served as the opening theme for Caroline Rhea's short-lived 2002 talk show. The audience often sang along with the song as well.
• The song was often played in tribute to the offshore radio station Radio Caroline in documentaries about the radio station, such as 'The Story of Radio Caroline' by former Radio Caroline DJ Ted Payne.
• The song appears in the game Karaoke Revolution Party.
• The song is featured in a montage of Fenway Park in Fever Pitch (2005 movie) (starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore).
• The song is on the soundtrack to the Disney movie Cars.
• Puck, a character from the Fox series Glee covered the song in the episode "Mash-Up".
• The song is mentioned in the song "Pop In G" by Oregon based rock band Heatmiser.

[edit] References