Neil Diamond has gotten a lot of help in his quest to bring joy to the world.
The legendary singer, 79, has shared a YouTube video that features a massive singalong to his classic 1969 hit, “Sweet Caroline.”
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“2020 has been a tough year for everyone, so we wanted to bring people together the best way we knew how: Through music,” read a message at the beginning of the video while the instrumental intro to the song plays.
“To inspire people to come together, we challenged fans all around the world to sing along to Sweet Caroline.”
And, boy, did the fans deliver.
Men and women, toddlers and seniors, soloists and duos all chime in, singing the lyrics to the song that has become a karaoke staple. There’s a man dressed as Santa, a few elves, an elderly couple dancing closely, a police officer and more than a few folks wearing “Neil Diamond” shirts. Heck, there’s even a stadium full of fans singing in unison.
“In what has been an extremely tough year for everybody worldwide, legendary singer Neil Diamond has been spreading some joy and togetherness across the globe," reads a statement about the effort, which included fans uploading videos to the now-expired website sweetcarolinesingalong.com.
"Today he reveals the results of a recent challenge set to fans worldwide, and the results are stunning - an inspirational, heartwarming ‘Sweet Caroline Global Singalong’ video.”
There are some shots of large crowds singing, including one at Boston’s Fenway Park, where fans famously sing along to the track during the eighth inning of each game, indicating some of the videos that appear in this video were made before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
The clip draws to a close with images of the fans dissolving into a photo of Diamond, whose new album, "Classic Diamonds," is out now.
It’s somewhat appropriate that Diamond, who retired from touring two years ago after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, shared the feel-good video at the end of the year, given that back in March during the early days of the quarantine he shared an alternate version of the song, with reworked lyrics focusing on the importance of washing hands.