The Athletic did a piece on songs played in sports arenas.
Pre-1972
“Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond (32.5 percent)
There are plenty of songs to choose from, but this is a fixture at sporting events across the world. Whether it’s soccer, baseball or college football, folks get a kick out of singing along to this one. Diamond, who is battling Parkinson’s disease, turned in a recent stirring edition on Broadway.
Here is a Tweet showing him singing this iconic song from that Broadway event, followed by a link to the article (paywall).
Got lucky this summer and took part of my vacation to Fenway to see the Cardinals and Red Sox (Really was to see Albert and Yadi in person for the last time). The surprise is Neil Diamond stopped by on the Saturday Night game to sing Sweet Caroline. He was in town for his pre-Broadway show. The experience was great, but his voice was a bit gravelly because of so much preforming. A good Memory!
Diamond travelled to Boston a few years ago on his own nickel to sing the song live. It may have been the first game in Fenway just after the Boston Marathon bombing. That was classy and moving. You can find it on Youtube.
Well, it’s certainly interesting how this song lives on so many years after it’s first release…and now at sports venues. So, in view of the fact that our beloved team is headed to the Liberty Bowl…here’s a clip of Memphis’s favorite son doing his version of Sweet Caroline. Even if you’re not an Elvis fan, scroll over to the :50 second mark and watch his moves on the chorus….priceless.
He was magic on stage, saw him several times in the mid 70’s. Blew my mind when he did a Karate type split. He and Master Kang Rhee were friends. Elvis achieved an Eighth Degree Black Belt.
