Music Friday: Neil Diamond's Hand-Washing Parody of 'Sweet Caroline' Is 'So Good'

Welcome to Music Friday when we would normally bring you fun songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today we bend the rules a bit to include an artist with a gemstone in his name. Performing from his home this past weekend while in self-quarantine, Neil Diamond spun up a few new lines to his universally loved 1969 hit, "Sweet Caroline," to support the international effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Diamond replaced the popular pre-chorus, "Hands, touching hands / Reaching out, touching me, touching you," with these health-conscious alternative lyrics, "Hands, washing hands / Reaching out, don't touch me, I won't touch you."

The 79-year-old Diamond, who was forced to cancel his worldwide golden anniversary tour in 2018 due to a Parkinson’s diagnosis, explained in the intro of his song why he decided to create this parody.

Sitting in his den with a raging fire in the background and his photogenic pup nearby, Diamond said, “Hi everybody. This is Neil Diamond. And I know we're going through a rough time right now. But I love ya, and I think maybe if we sing together, well, we'll just feel a little bit better. Give it a try! OK?”

Diamond's effort was wonderfully received on social media, with more than 2.5 million views on YouTube and 140,000 Likes on Twitter. His humanitarian musical outreach was praised by the Los Angeles Times and USA Today, among other high profile outlets.

“Sweet Caroline” is a song that has been woven into the fabric of American culture. Played at sporting events from coast to coast, when Diamond sings the line, “Good times never seemed so good,” the crowd chants back, “So good, so good, so good.”

Originally believed to be an ode to Caroline Kennedy, the then-11-year-old daughter of President John F. Kennedy, “Sweet Caroline” was actually written for Diamond’s second wife, Marcia.

Diamond revealed the truth during a 2014 appearance on the Today show.

“I was writing a song in Memphis, Tenn., for a session. I needed a three-syllable name,” Diamond said. “The song was about my wife at the time — her name was Marcia — and I couldn’t get a ‘Marcia’ rhyme.”

The song was released in the summer of 1969 and zoomed to #4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Over the course of his 58-year career as a singer-songwriter-musician, Diamond has sold more than 130 million albums worldwide and placed 38 singles in the Top 10 on the U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. None has been more enduring than “Sweet Caroline.” The song has been covered by Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Roy Orbison, Julio Iglesias and many more.

Even though Diamond has officially retired from touring because of his illness, the musical legend performed at the 24th annual Keep Memory Alive Power of Love Gala benefit, which took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in early March.

"I’m feeling great," Diamond told People at the time. "This is an important thing they’re doing and I feel honored to be part of it and take part in it."

Please check out the video of Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" parody. His intro, along with the altered lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...

“Sweet Caroline” (parody lyrics)
Written and performed by Neil Diamond.

(Intro: Hi Everybody, This is Neil Diamond.
And I know we're going through a rough time right now.
But I love ya, and I think maybe if we sing together
Well, we'll just feel a little bit better. Give it a try! OK?)

Where it began, I can’t begin to knowing
But then I know it’s growing strong
Was in the spring
Then spring became the summer
Who’d have believed you’d come along

Hands, washing hands
Reaching out, don't touch me, I won't touch you

Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I’d be inclined
To believe they never would
But now I

Look at the night and it don’t seem so lonely
We filled it up with only two
And when I hurt
Hurting runs off my shoulders
How can I hurt when I’m holding you

Hands, washing hands
Reaching out, don't touch me, I won't touch you

Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I’d been inclined
To believe they never would

Sweet Caroline

(Outro: Good night everybody. Good night. We love you.)

Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com/Neil Diamond.

‘My Big Fat Fabulous Life’ Star Whitney Thore Gets the Sapphire Ring of Her Dreams

My Big Fat Fabulous Life star Whitney Thore got the ring of her dreams last night during the season six finale on TLC. Boyfriend Chase Severino surprised Thore with a yellow sapphire surrounded by a halo of white diamonds on a split white gold band.

TLC cameras were on hand to document the proposal, which took place at one of the most romantic venues in the world — the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

“I was half-sweaty and half-wet after climbing to the top of the Eiffel Tower in the rain,” Thore told The Knot. “I was posing for a photo. Chase was behind me, and I thought he was taking a picture of me looking out over Paris, but when I turned around, he was on his knee holding out a ring.”

She continued, “I gasped and I think he just said, ‘Will you marry me?’ I don’t remember what I said, but I was totally in shock and it was obvious that my answer was yes.”

Thore commended her fiancé for choosing an engagement ring style that was exactly what she wanted.

"DAMN HE DID SO WELL!," she wrote on Instagram. "It’s yellow sapphire, diamonds, and white gold and I’m in LOVE!"

Followers of Thore's Instagram page know that the proposal was actually taped in October. The current season of My Big Fat Fabulous Life kicked off on January 7 and teasers have shown snippets of Severino getting down on one knee in a Parisian proposal.

In December, Thore wrote on Instagram, "Chase and I got engaged on October 9th in Paris and I’m quite possibly the happiest woman alive. It has been REAL hard to keep this a secret! Can’t wait to share this with y’all!"

According to The Knot, Thore and Severino met on New Year's Eve 2018 and have been dating since April of 2019. The couple met through a mutual friend, Ryan Andreas, who is Thore's business partner at NoBS Active, a subscription-based online workout program.

Credits: Images via Instagram.com/whitneywaythore.

Chicago-Area Nurse Takes Break from Heroic Work to Accept Marriage Proposal

As the clinical leader of Edward Hospital's Pulmonary Medicine Unit in Naperville, IL, Juliette Blondis has been working long, stressful hours treating patients with the COVID-19 virus. On Thursday — the first day of spring — her boyfriend, Bryan Goshorn, surprised the nurse with a marriage proposal on the front lawn outside of her workplace.

The couple had scheduled a romantic getaway, and Blondis had a hunch that Goshorn would pop the question, but those plans had to be scrapped because of the global pandemic.

Undaunted, Goshorn devised a way to surprise his now-fianceé while brightening the spirits of the hospital crew and its patients. He selected the first day of spring because it symbolizes rebirth, new beginnings and new adventures. He chose the front lawn because the hospital is allowing no visitors.

Goshorn drove Blondis to work on Thursday morning, but rang her cell phone a few minutes after she got into the building, claiming she had left something in the car. When she emerged from the building, Goshorn greeted her with a bouquet of flowers.

“He walked me out to the lawn and got down on one knee and proposed,” Blondis told the Naperville Sun.

She said, "Yes," shared a hug with her new fiancé and then went back to tending her patients.

“l love my job at Edward and am a very positive person,” she added. “These past two weeks have been incredibly stressful and my whole team has had a lot going on. This was definitely a bright light in everyone’s day.”

Blondis, 49, and Goshorn, 42, weren't the only ones uplifted by the beautiful moment. One of Blondis' patients watched from her window and later told Blondis that it was the highlight of her day. Doctors, nurses and other patients were excited to hear the big news and asked to see her new ring.

Goshorn noted that it's important to acknowledge the dedication of health providers on the front lines.

“They are doing heroic work and we need to all remember that,” he told the Naperville Sun.

Credits: Images courtesy of Edward-Elmhurst Health / Twitter @edwardhospital.