Neil Diamond is taking some liberties with his biggest song amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m Neil Diamond, and I know we’re going through a rough time right now,” the singer-songwriter said to fans in a YouTube video posted to his channel on Sunday. “But I love you, and I think maybe if we sing together, we’ll just feel a little bit better.”
Then, guitar in hand, he busted out into a rendition of his hit song, “Sweet Caroline” — with just a slight variation on the lyrics to fit these trying times.
“Hands, washing hands,” he sang. “Reaching out, don’t touch me, I won’t touch you!”
Those are just a bit different from the original words, which went, “Hands, touching hands, reaching out, touching me, touching you.”
Diamond did all of this from the comfort of his home, of course, and was joined by his dog, who looked very comfortable laying on the rug in front of a roaring fire.
Watch the video above.
“Sweet Caroline” was originally released in May of 1969, and was recorded at American Sound Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. It charted at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Diamond later told The Guardian that he wrote the song with Caroline Kennedy in mind, who lost her father, President John F. Kennedy, just a few years before the song was written.
The song later went on to become the special song of the Boston Red Sox. Fans stand up and sing the song at Fenway Park, the baseball team’s home field, in the middle of the eighth inning at every game.