1969 Song of the Day is- “Sweet Caroline”- by Neil Diamond. Neil Diamond wrote and performed some great songs in the late 60’s and early 70’s- I think he jumped the shark in the late 70’s but that’s another story. Sweet Caroline has always been my favorite Neil Diamond song- by far. It was a song written by Neil and recorded at American Sound Studio in Memphis- where that Elvis fella was making his “From Elvis In Memphis” album 50 years ago.Diamond wrote the song in a Memphis hotel in under an hour. The single was released in June of 1969 and went to #4 on the pop chart and sold a million copies.
Diamond would later say he was inspired to write the song at the time by President Kennedy’s daughter Caroline who was eleven at the time. He would sing the song for her at her 50th birthday. Diamond said that he was a picture of her on the cover of a magazine as a young child with her parents in the background and it created an image in his mind- he would write the song five years after seeing the picture. The song has remained popular over the years in the digital downloading age- it had over 2 million downloads as of November 2014. The Boston Red Sox began playing it in 1997 and since 2002 have been playing it every home game in the middle of the 8th inning. A number of other sports teams have adopted it- including the Oxford United football [soccer ] Northern Ireland’s football team, it’s the Iowa State football victory song among others.
Two of the giants in music have covered it -Elvis and Frank. A classic song and one of the best songs from 1969.
slicethelife 
Great song!
A little creepy origin story but the song itself is beautiful. So smooth.
Some question the origin story- Neil seems be less than honest at times about his songs..
It almost seems like he was willing to risk the inappropriateness of his “fascination” with a 10 year old girl that he says it is about only because she is the daughter of a political figure. Was he looking for political gain?
another story is he was writing a song and it was Sweet Marcia- his second wife at the time- but that just didn’t work- Caroline worked better. My guess is he liked the name- I like the name too- I am surprised it isn’t used more often.
I like that name too. He could have not said any story at all. It would have been better than an 11 year old girl!
Lol !
Awesome song. I like his sixties music…before the polyester Neil Diamond came
I agree- that was like Elvis in the jump suit and cape.. bad idea.
My wife is a big fan so I have seen him a couple times in concert. All I can say is that something special happens when he plays this song and the whole crowd sings in unison the BaBaNa part
I’ve never seen him and since he’s now retired I guess I never will. I’ve always been mixed on him.
Agree his early stuff is classic before the cheese. We actually saw him soon before he retired. While he wasn’t moving around stage as well as before his voice was still classic
It’s got to be one of my favs! I adored Neil Diamond as a young girl – still do! I felt he’d written that song for me, and not for Caroline Kennedy… Hahah… No matter the reason, it’s a great song…
I agree – I have trouble with the 70’s 80s lame music he did but in the late 60s to mid 70’s he was great and this is a great one!
One of the first 45 singles I ever bought! Loved Neil Diamond in his early years.