Sweet Caroline
| "Sweet Caroline" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Single by Neil Diamond | ||||
| B-side | "Dig In" | |||
| Released | September 16, 1969 | |||
| Genre | Soft rock, pop | |||
| Length | 3:21 | |||
| Label | UNI/MCA | |||
| Writer(s) | Neil Diamond | |||
| Producer | Tommy Cogbill Neil Diamond Chips Moman |
|||
| Neil Diamond singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"Sweet Caroline" is a soft rock song written and performed by Neil Diamond and officially released on September 16th, 1969, as a single. It was later released on December 9, 1972 as a part of Diamond's Hot August Night album. 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 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 autumn 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]
The song has sold 1,745,000 digital downloads as of April 2013.[5]
On December 21, 2011, in an interview on the CBS Early Show, Diamond said that a magazine cover photo of Caroline Kennedy as a young child on a horse with her parents[6] in the background created an image in his mind, and the rest of the song came together about five years after seeing the picture.
Contents |
At Boston Red Sox games [edit]
"Sweet Caroline" is popular at sporting events. Boston's Fenway Park has played the song since at least 1997, and it has been played at every game in the middle of the eighth inning since 2002.[7] On opening night of the 2010 season at Fenway Park, the song was performed by Diamond himself.
On April 16, 2013, the day after the Boston Marathon bombings, the New York Yankees—longtime Red Sox rivals—announced they would play the song during their home game, preceded by a moment of silence, as a tribute to the victims.[8] On Saturday, April 20, 2013, during the 8th inning of the Red Sox-Kansas City game in Fenway Park, Neil Diamond led the crowd in a rendition of the song. The song was sung out at sporting events across the country after the Boston Marathon bombings, in efforts to show solidarity with those affected by the tragedy. It was also played right before the start of the Hamburg Marathon in Hamburg, Germany, on Sunday, April 21, 2013, subsequent to a minute of silence.[9]
On Thursday, April 25, 2013, Sweet Caroline was played following a tribute to the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombings during the NFL Draft. Diamond has announced that he will donate all royalties from sales of the song since the marathon bombings to the One Fund Boston to help the people most affected by the bombings.[10] Diamond said that sales of the song surged nearly 600 percent in the week after the bombings, to 19,000 copies, up from 2,800 the week before.[11]
Cover versions [edit]
- Victor Wood covered this song in the album Mr. Lonely.
- Pierre Lalonde in 1969 made a French cover of this song as "Caroline".
- Bobby Womack covered this song in his 1972 album Understanding.
- Frank Sinatra recorded a big band cover of "Sweet Caroline" for his 1974 LP Some Nice Things I've Missed.
- The third full length release from the punk band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, entitled "Have a Ball", released July 29, 1997, features a punk-rock cover of "Sweet Caroline".
- In November 2001, Dustin the Turkey took the song to number one on the Irish Singles Chart.
Dave Matthews Band covers somg on Live Trax, Vol.6: Fenway Park
References [edit]
- ^ "Neil Diamond" (biography). Billboard. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
- ^ Glaister, Dan (November 21, 2007). "Neil Diamond reveals secret of Sweet Caroline". The Guardian (London). Retrieved July 5, 2011.
- ^ Beggy, Carol; Shanahan, Mark (November 21, 2007). "'Sweet Caroline' revealed". The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 15, 2008.
- ^ Cohen, Sandy (November 20, 2007). "Neil Diamond reveals inspiration for his smash hit 'Sweet Caroline': Caroline Kennedy". Associated Press.
- ^ Grein, Paul (2013-04-23). "Week Ending April 21, 2013. Songs: Duo of the Year". Retrieved 2013-05-06.
- ^ "1962 covers", Life, 2 neat magazines, "7-Sep-1962, Caroline Kennedy on her pony".
- ^ Vosk, Stephanie (May 29, 2005). "Another mystery of the Diamond, explained at last". The Boston Globe.
- ^ "Yankees Twitter". New York Yankees. 2013-04-16. Retrieved 2013-04-16.
- ^ "15,000 expected at Hamburg Marathon". TheLocal. 2013-04-20. Retrieved 2013-04-22.
- ^ "Neil Diamond to Donate ‘Sweet Caroline’ Royalties to Boston Bombing Charity". The New York Times. 2013-04-25. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
- ^ "Neil Diamond to Donate 'Sweet Caroline' Royalties to Boston Charity". The Hollywood Reporter. 2013-04-25. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
External links [edit]
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
