Song · Neil Diamond
“Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond
From the album Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show (1969)
“Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond appears on 8 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 2001 and 2026. It was first released in 1969 on the album Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show. Its best result is #408 on The Current's 893 Essential Songs. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,333 indie & aaa song of all time.
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"Sweet Caroline" came out as a Neil Diamond single in the spring of 1969 and landed on his album Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show. Diamond wrote it alone, cut it at American Sound Studio in Memphis, and Charles Calello did the arrangement.
Who Caroline is depends on when you ask. In 2007 Diamond named Caroline Kennedy as the spark, and that year he sang it at her 50th birthday party; in 2011 he traced it to a magazine photo of her as a small girl on a horse with her parents. By 2014 he said it was really about his then-wife, Marcia Murphey, and that her name simply didn't have the three syllables the melody wanted. It went to number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and turned gold that same summer.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1434 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2007 | 836 | WTMD | WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time | 897 |
| 2009 | 682 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2010 | 666 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010) | 885 |
| 2014 | 837 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) | 885 |
| 2018 | 408 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs | 892 |
| 2020 | 426 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2026 | 626 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
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