In times of crisis, we often look to celebrities to speak up on our behalf and quell our communal discontent. Normally, they fail miserably, making hokey, self-serving gestures.
But sometimes, their actions are both humble and entertaining enough to briefly distract us from our present realities.
Neil Diamond hit the nail on the head Friday when he shared an updated, coronavirus-friendly version of his 1969 smash hit “Sweet Caroline.” Diamond reworked the pre-chorus from “Hands, touching hands / Reaching out, touching me, touching you” to “Hands, washing hands / Reaching out, don’t touch me, I won’t touch you.”
It’s as catchy a PSA as you’ll hear anywhere.
It’s also a riff on a tweet that went viral after the outbreak began, imagining Diamond singing to the Centers for Disease Control.
But the original version of “Sweet Caroline” is also eerily prescient. The first verse, which apparently pertains to young love, applies almost perfectly to the spread of coronavirus:
Where it began, I can’t begin to knowing
But then I know it’s growing strong
Was in the spring
And spring became the summer
Who’d have believed you’d come along?
Was Neil Diamond actually a prophet of the end times? Or was he just a master of writing timeless pop songs that sound appropriate in a variety of contexts? Your guess is as good as mine. For now, we might as well just enjoy Diamond’s unassuming safety reminder and thank our lucky stars he’s not covering “Imagine” a cappella.
READ MORE:
- Gal Gadot got all her famous friends to sing ‘Imagine’—and now she’s getting roasted
- Jake Johnson offers Peter Parker voice messages to quarantined ‘Spider-Verse’ fans
- Idris Elba squashes rumor that Black people can’t get coronavirus
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