Talk:Sweet Caroline

General Call for Editing

This article could really use a good editing job to improve it's quality. One gem that caught my eye was in regards to Boston College's playing of it: In the student section, over 9000 generally inebriated undergrads sing along heartily, clad in their yellow, superfan t-shirts. As a UNH fan, and BU sympathizer, I am inclined to leave it be. ;) --Rob McDougall 07:12, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Six years later. It is no better... Silverwood (talk) 22:18, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Could use some editing on the first section. It simply ends with "He explains it", probably can do with deleting that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:7:9F00:73B:E8CB:9651:1A0D:AAE9 (talk) 11:36, 13 December 2014 (UTC)

Connection?

This article states:

In the autumn of 1969, Diamond performed "Sweet Caroline" on several television shows. It later reached No. 8 on the UK singles chart in March 1971.

What is the connection between these two statements? Being in the same paragraph, one would expect that there is one, but unless people in England are really slow making decisions there wouldn't appear to be (even assuming that the television shows in question were shown there). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:801:300:7520:850:16C8:6ADC:B06A (talk) 17:22, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

Lyrics

Someone's posted the lyrics to this song recently. Others have added or corrected them after they were posted. I seem to recall reading somewhere that lyrics are not supposed to be part of Wikipedia song entries. I am trying to find out if this is indeed the case. If it is, I will delete the lyrics here, unless someone else beats me to it. RSLitman 04:23, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Someone did indeed beat me to it. Thanks to Alkivar. RSLitman 02:39, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Considering all three links at the botton are about the song and the Sox, I figured noting that the song is most notably a sporting song at Fenway was not out of line. - RedFox742

The section about Red Sox fans' modifications to the lyrics is, as far as I know, not true. I say this having grown up near Boston, and having heard the sing a long at Fenway Park many times. I have never heard "Yankees Suck" substituted; that is an entirely separate chant. Ditto on Go Sox. I don't believe either are common practice. Removed pending source. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.161.68.91 (talk) 04:04, 7 October 2008 (UTC)

I think the entire "At Sporting Events" section is terribly written and completely unnecessary. A slight reference to the Red Sox is all it really needs, but the current section is complete overkill. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.13.64.238 (talk) 19:52, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

Lyrics are vague. Exegesis and exposition would be helpful. 50.136.207.30 (talk) 16:19, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Add the Music

Please add the music in *.ogg format. 71.197.189.161 00:52, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Recent Re-charting

A Yahoo article (link to article) talks about "Sweet Caroline" being back on the charts because of the Red Sox and the reveal of who Caroline is... any more information about this? Should info about the re-chart be added to the article? Thanks - Antmusic (talk) 18:54, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Joe Dolan

How can someone have recorded a song after his death? RSLitman (talk) 02:35, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Covers

I just removed three covers by redlinked artists. I'm not sure what else to remove. I believe we should keep at least...

• Charted covers
• Covers by superstars
• Covers that relate in an interesting way (e.g., the one that mentions Diamond and the two at Fenway)

Any other guidance? Ma^t_chups 18:16, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Sporting Events

As I am unable to find a linkable source (EDIT: I found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaddJhqqx0E), I will not be adding it at this point, but I do know firsthand that since at least the early 90s this song has been a 300 section (read: cheap seats) favorite at the Buffalo Sabres games, carrying over from the Memorial Auditorium days into the new arena we have here. Most famously, the line "Sweet Caroline..." is always followed by a ceremonial BAH BAH BAH from the crowd to make up the trumpet line, and then followed by the shouting of "SO GOOD! SO GOOD!" after the line "good times never seemed so good." Needless to say, the city of no illusions has a rather touching sense of irony... --KeineLust90 (talk) 05:10, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Why is there reference to the songs use by Pitt athletics, but no reference to the equally, if not more relevant use by WVU athletics, inserting "Eat Shit Pitt" and "Eat Shit".

UConn Baseball

As of at least this season, Sweet Caroline is played at the conclusion of each University of Connecticut baseball game. However, I couldn't find a reliable source for it. I did add it to my blog (http://greguconngames.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/march-25-game-63-baseball-vs-pittsburgh/) but I would have to assume it is not a reliable source per Wikipedia policy. It would probably be even more in violation of Wikipedia policy if I were to add it myself, and since it's a blog hosted on Wordpress, I'm guessing it would be removed regardless of who added it. But if someone can find a reliable source, go ahead. I'll try to find one too. Smartyllama (talk) 10:37, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Release date

There's a discrepancy between the stated release date and the songs chart appearance. The article claims the song was "officially released on September 16, 1969" and then goes on to say "The song reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on August 23, 1969," which, of course, would be a several weeks before it's supposed release. It also says, "The Billboard ranking supports those sources which indicate that Sweet Caroline actually charted on June 29, 1969." 24.188.20.28 (talk) 14:09, 18 October 2017 (UTC)

Exactly. IP 172.79.31.74 from Tennessee and User:Weintzer insist that the September date is correct. There are good reasons why this is not appropriate, the best being that the song reached its peak on Billboard earlier than that. The Billboard chart website says that the song reached number 4 on August 16, and that it had been on the charts for eight weeks prior to that, meaning it entered the charts in late June.

In 2015, the UK Telegraph wrote that the song was released on June 28, 1969.

A public relations statement from the record company says the song entered the charts on June 28, 1969, and that it spent 14 weeks on the charts. The album containing the song was released in July 1969.

The personal website of arranger Charles Calello says the song was released in June 1969.

The 45 rpm collector's website 45cat says that the song was released on May 28, 1969.

So with all these other sources disagreeing with September, we should continue to remove any attempt to change it to September. Binksternet (talk) 15:52, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

On the issue of the release date of Sweet Caroline, the song had an OFFICIAL release date of September 16th, 1969 per Neil Diamond himself. It was apparently shopped to a few local markets a few weeks earlier and even charted, but the official release date was September 16th, 1969. This was revealed to multiple news agencies such as The Guardian and others:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/nov/20/usa.musicnews

http://societyofrock.com/neil-diamond-serenades-the-crowd-with-sweet-caroline-live-2/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2808898/I-needed-three-syllable-Singer-Neil-Diamond-reveals-Sweet-Caroline-love-song-wife-Marcia-not-rhyme.html

Mr. Diamond's own words supersede any obscure references from other sources, (which don't even agree on their own May or June dates). For this reason of Neil Diamond's own words, The September 16th 1969 date will remain. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Weintzer (talk • contribs) 16:33, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

Again, your unreliable Daily Mail link does not inspire confidence in your judgement. As well, you say that "Mr. Diamond's own words" establish the date of September 16, but the sources you cited do not quote Diamond saying anything about September or 16th. Instead, the sources give the date in passing, in the editorial voice.

Do you want to know why they say September 16? Because Wikipedia's version of the article at that time (early November 2007 corresponding to the Guardian source date, and late October 2014 corresponding to the Daily Mail source date) said September 16. This is a clear case of the Woozle effect in action, with Wikipedia's wrong versions poisoning the media representations which were published at those times.

When these issues arise, the best solution is to look at the most basic sources, ones that are compiled from facts, in this case Billboard's own charts, and record industry lists. Such sources don't say anything about September. Binksternet (talk) 17:12, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

And as far as I can tell, our new friend Weintzer was the original editor who inserted the date of September 16 into the Wikipedia article, with this edit during August 2007, using another IP address from Crossville, Tennessee (74.38.226.131), the same location as yesterday's IP editor, 172.79.31.74, who then registered an account to join the conversation as Weintzer. Prior to August 2007, I cannot find any sources talking about a September release of this song. So Weintzer himself is to blame here. Binksternet (talk) 17:29, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

Very very interesting. More like citogenesis Galobtter (pingó mió) 17:56, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for the link to citogenesis... very apt. Binksternet (talk) 18:16, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

Looking for the song in Newspapers.com (a pay site), I see a reference to Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" on a Top 40 type of chart dated June 27, 1969. Looking a little further, the earliest reference I'm seeing to the song on a chart is June 14, 1969. So it would seem that a September release date is incorrect. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:01, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

I agree with Binksternet here. The contemporaneous sources make it crystal clear that the record was released months before September, and recent newspaper sources that probably "fact checked" by reading Wikipedia should not be trusted. I discussed this matter at length with Weintzer on my talk page. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 18:24, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) I agree with the inclusion of the 28 May 1969 release date; as others have said both here and on Cullen328's user talk, how could an unreleased record reach #4 on the Billboard charts in 1969? IIRC they only began allowing radio-only songs to chart in 1998 (hence the #9 debut of "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls). If no consensus can be determined, why not just change the release date to "1969"? Many other songs, such as The Safety Dance, have just a year as a release date, so it's not as though doing so would be unprecedented or inappropriate.

Entering the charts in late June 1969 would also seem to favor a release in the first half of 1969, lending credence to the 28 May date (as Billboard post-dates their charts a few days in advance, meaning that the 28 June chart was released a week or so prior to that and based on data from up to a week and a half prior to that, which means the song had to be out and making impressions on audiences by mid-June). Besides, as an observation, the Neil Diamond discography article gives the 28 May date for the release of Sweet Caroline also; it might get confusing if different dates for the same thing were given in different articles. 65HCA7 00:15, 9 January 2018 (UTC)

All of this suggests that the release date was 1969. But the opening paragraph says: "released in May 1970". Any reason not to change it back to "1969"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.18.142.178 (talk • contribs)

Elvis version

The version I remember the most was the Elvis version. I think that should probably be added to the cover section. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0S3C087Vic

John — Preceding unsigned comment added by 49.197.195.54 (talk) 00:27, 30 September 2018 (UTC)

Please see WP:COVERSONG. - SummerPhD^v2.0 01:54, 30 September 2018 (UTC)

Alternate Mixes

Is anyone opposed to adding Neil Diamond’s new alternate lyrics (hands, washing hands // reaching out // don’t touch me // I won’t touch you) under alternate mixes? Even as a quick mention to his comical response to the COVID-19 guidelines? Jacket2018 (talk) 03:36, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

Use at Sporting events omits use at WVU

Sweet Caroline’s use at WVU sporting events is more notable than its use at Pitt events or at the very least equally notable, yet it is omitted from this section of the article and attempts to add it have been reverted. The use of the “Eat Shit Pitt” variation certainly warrants mention in the article especially in light of the mention of Pitt’s variation and the rivalry between the two schools. 50.221.227.89 (talk) 15:56, 27 January 2024 (UTC)