When people think of a Boston Red Sox game at FenWay Park, one of Neil Diamond's songs comes to mind. "Sweet Caroline," arguably the songwriter's biggest hit, has become the unofficial anthem of the city in the aftermath of the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing. As a tribute to the great city that adopted his song years ago for baseball games, Neil Diamond himself performed the hit at FenWay Park on April 20. Not only that, the successful singer has decided to donate the royalties of the song's sales to One Fund Boston, a charity set up for the victims and families of the Boston Marathon bombing.
The organization, One Fund Boston, has raised an impressive amount in such a short amount of time (over $25 million), but just one amputee victim's medical costs can mount up to $250,000. There were 170 injured in the blasts.
Since the tragedy, sales of "Sweet Caroline" have gone up by 597 percent. Diamond has pledged to donate the royalties from this incredible increase to the charity. The Brooklyn-born singer-songwriter does not really have a clear connection with Boston, but that is not stopping him from his donation.
The city decided to use the song during the eighth innings of every home game at FenWay Park for the last decade, resulting in "Sweet Caroline" becoming the city's unofficial anthem in the aftermath of the tragedy.
In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Diamond announced that he is currently writing a new record. He also explains that some of his writing has been inspired by the tragic Boston Marathon bombing events.
"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."
Here is the video of Neil Diamond singing over his hit track last weekend: