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TL;DR:

  • Neil Diamond said “Sweet Caroline” is the Boston Red Sox’s “lucky song.”
  • Elvis Presley covered the track on a successful live album.
  • The track appeared in Seth MacFarlane’s movie Ted.
"Sweet Caroline" singer Neil Diamond with a guitar
Neil Diamond | Kevin Mazur / Contributor

Some classic rock songs are forever associated with sports teams. For example, Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” is an anthem for the Boston Red Sox. Despite this, Diamond revealed the Red Sox are not his favorite baseball team.

Neil Diamond was upset when his favorite team moved from one city to another

During a 2020 interview with Forbes, Diamond was asked about his love of the Dodgers. He said he was upset by their move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Then, he got over his anger in 1988 when the team beat the Oakland Athletics. 

Diamond started following the team again during the lead-up to their victory in the 2020 World Series. He was asked what he thought about the Dodgers’ win. “It made me very happy,” he recalled. “I wrote a little note or two to about a dozen of my friends. We didn’t gloat, but we sure were happy.”

Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’ made him a fan of the Red Sox

Diamonds was asked if the Red Sox had to be his second-favorite team “by default.” “They are my second team and I love them because they showed me the love by getting on the ‘Sweet Caroline’ bandwagon,” he replied. “They realized it was gonna be a lucky song and it was very lucky for them and lucky for me. So I was very happy to have it played there.”

There are other reasons Diamond likes the Red Sox. “I have a bunch of friends that are from that area in New England,” he revealed. “So it was easy for me to root for them. And I didn’t have an American League team to root for, so the Red Sox became my rooting team. And I became officially a Red Sox fan when I went there and sang for them for the crowd and they gave me a free hot dog.”

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How ‘Sweet Caroline’ performed on the charts and impacted pop culture

“Sweet Caroline” became a big hit for Diamond. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, lasting on the chart for 14 weeks. The tune appeared on some editions of the album Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show. That album reached No. 82 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 25 weeks.

The tune impacted the world beyond its time on the charts. Elvis Presley recorded a live version of “Sweet Caroline” for his live album On Stage: February, 1970. The album was arguably a bigger hit than Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show, reaching No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and staying on the chart for 20 weeks. In addition, the original “Sweet Caroline” appeared in Seth MacFarlane’s movie Ted, which directly referenced its association with the Red Sox.

“Sweet Caroline” will always be the Red Sox’s signature tune even if Diamond prefers another team.

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