Posted on

My Gen X Playlist: Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond

Scroll down to see more content
Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite season of year? Why?
View all responses

I played baseball until junior high school. I actually was a decent player, but I quit because I didn’t want to wear glasses and was having difficulty seeing the ball. When you play first base, the ball zings at you on a regular basis. It was getting a little dangerous.

My parents were big Angels fans. I only started following them because they loved them so much and I could chat about the team when I came to visit.

One day the head of our office stopped by and offered me tickets to the Angels’ World Series game. A client canceled at the last minute. Of course I accepted with the intention of giving them to my parents. They would have been thrilled. Unfortunately, they were out of town that weekend and I didn’t have the heart to tell them they were passing on tickets. My buddy and I ended up going to the game instead. It turned out to be Game 6, the exciting Angels’ World Series comeback game. They went on to win the series after that exciting game. I waited a few months before fessing up to my parents they missed out on the World Series.

All of this to say that I’ve been a lukewarm baseball fan my entire life. Something changed last year, though. I found myself watching a majority of the Angels’ games and attended a few games as well. Although we lost Ohtani to the Dodgers, I still was looking forward to baseball season this year. Even now as the season is taking a slow motion swirl down the toilet, I still follow them and try to catch the games. Baseball season has unexpectedly become one of my favorites and I have no idea why the change. I’m just glad it did.

There are some songs that are great singalongs with big crowds. Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline is one of them. It’s become a staple at every Boston Red Sox games.

It all started with a baby named Caroline. During a 1997 game at Fenway, Amy Tobey, who was one of the employees in charge of music at the ballpark during that season, played “Sweet Caroline” because someone she knew had recently given birth to a baby of that name. Tobey became superstitious about its use over the next several years, only playing the song between the seventh and ninth innings when the Red Sox were winning the game. . . But when Dr. Charles Steinberg became the Red Sox executive vice president of public affairs in 2002, he quickly seized on the song as an integral part of the Fenway experience.

Steinberg theorized that the song may have “transformative powers,” and would thus be able to lift the spirits of a crowd even when victory wasn’t imminent. He also believed that standardizing the song by always playing it in the middle of the eighth inning would give it staying power.

“I wanted it to be the middle of the eighth, because you want your more festive songs to occur when the home team is coming up to bat,” Steinberg said in the interview. “So we started playing it each day in 2002.”

– Boston.com

There’s nothing like a crowd singalong.

–

For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Where it began
I can't begin to knowin'
But then I know it's growin' strong

Was in the spring
And spring became the summer
Who'd have believed you'd come along

Hands, touchin' hands
Reachin' out, touchin' me, touchin' you

Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I've been inclined
To believe they never would
But now I...

...look at the night
And it don't seem so lonely
We fill it up with only two

And when I hurt
Hurtin' runs off my shoulders
How can I hurt when holdin' you?

Warm, touchin' warm
Reachin' out, touchin' me, touchin' you

Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I've been inclined
To believe they never would
Oh, no, no

Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
Sweet Caroline
I believed they never could

Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good

22 thoughts on “My Gen X Playlist: Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond”

  1. It’s not one of my favourite Neil Diamond songs because it’s so overly popular and I tend to purposely try to not like the popular things in life but I am a Neil Diamond fan.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  4. Today’s post is my favorite 🤩
    I became a baseball fan after attending a game with my dad, and that was my first time watching a baseball game. I had no idea what was happening. I just cheered when everybody cheered for the winners. 😂
    I’m a big fan of the Dodgers.
    Nice song! I love it!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. The great thing about going to a baseball game, you don’t have to totally understand it to enjoy the experience. There is nothing like a twilight game, in the stands with a Dodger dog with friends.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      3. I wanted to learn more about the game, so I looked up some YouTube videos, and the first video that came up was the Dodgers. Then I looked up more Dodgers videos and that’s it…love at first sight since 2010.
        I still don’t know all the baseball rules though. I’m still learning.

        Liked by 1 person

  9. I never knew how that song became a Red Sox staple. I’m living in Red Sox land and watch a game or most of one most nights, I seem to miss the playing of the song somehow. (my own musical taste skips over this song usually even though I do get that it’s catchy and a crowd favorite) I like that the Tom Petty song got associated with them winning the World Series that one time.

    I do love when a crowd gets happy because of one unifying song. Good job Neil, your legacy lives on and on and on!

    ( I was going to pick jeans too, but It’s just too hot to imagine being forced to wear a pair right now)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply to MyGenXerLife Cancel reply