"Sweet Caroline" Quotes
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Source: "Sweet Caroline"
Speaker: Neil Diamond
Sweet Caroline! Ba, ba, ba!
Context
This line was sung and written by Neil Diamond in the song "Sweet Caroline," released as a single (1969).
"Sweet Caroline" is one of the all-time great, happy, love songs. In it, Neil Diamond serenades his wife, Marsha, with a song bearing the name of another woman. Lore had it that he actually wrote this song for the 11-year-old daughter of former president John F. Kennedy. But that's just an urban myth, and it turns out Diamond just needed a three-syllable name to fit his song.
And somehow a song written by a guy from Brooklyn ended up being the anthem for the Boston Red Sox, and Boston in general. After the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, the whole world rallied around Boston and used this song to show their solidarity with the city and victims. Even Boston's fiercest rivals, the New York Yankees, played it at a home game in memory of the victims.
Where you've heard it
If you're a Boston Red Sox fan or a Bostonian in general, this song is your eternal anthem. If not, it makes its rounds on classic radio stations.
"Sweet Caroline" has been covered by musical legends like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and ska band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.
Pretentious Factor
If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.
This is a nice, happy song, so quote away. Though maybe not to a Caroline…she's probably heard it one too many times.