Neil Diamond says he will donate the royalties from this week’s surge in sales of his song “Sweet Caroline†to a fund for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. He made the announcement on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon.
The 1969 hit song, addressed to Caroline Kennedy, is regularly played at Boston Red Sox games and became an unofficial anthem for the rattled city in the aftermath of the bombings on April 15. Sales of the single rose nearly 600 percent last week, to 19,000 copies, up from 2,800 the week before.
Last Saturday Mr. Diamond visited Fenway Park and led fans in singing the tune during the team’s first home stand since the attacks. He told Rolling Stone magazine he is working on new songs inspired in part by the bombings.
“I’m writing now and obviously affected by this situation in Boston, so I’m writing about it just to express myself,†he told Rolling Stone. “It’s like an infestation, and I’m writing about the general situation, not just about this bombing in Boston, but what we’re going through with all of these tragedies - shootings and so on and so forth.â€
In a show of solidarity, the New York Yankees, Toronto Raptors and other professional sports teams have played the song at games in the days after the deadly blasts. Though the lyrics never mention Boston, “Sweet Caroline†has become associated with the city over the last decade as Red Sox fans adopted it as a regular part of the eighth inning.
