"IT WAS SUCH A WONDERFUL PICTURE, I FELT THERE WAS A SONG THERE"

NEIL DIAMOND'S 'SWEET CAROLINE' IS GOLD

Memphis, Tennessee (JFK+50) Neil Diamond's hit song 'Sweet Caroline', released in June 1969, soon went GOLD selling more than one million single copies.  The recording was made here in Memphis where the singer says he was writing a song about his wife, but, because he couldn't come up with a rhyme for Marsha, chose Caroline instead.

Neil Diamond* revealed that he was inspired to choose Caroline** when he saw a picture of the President's daughter in a magazine dressed in riding gear and standing beside her pony named 'Macaroni.'

Diamond said... 

"It was such a...wonderful picture, I felt certain there was a song there."


*Neil Leslie Diamond was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1941.  He has sold 100 million records worldwide & has 38 songs in the Top Ten.  NLD was inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 & the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

**Caroline Bouvier Kennedy was born on November 27, 1957 in NYC.  CBK graduated from Radcliffe College (1980) and earned J.D. degree at Columbia Law School.  She married Edwin Scholossberg in 1986. Their children are Rose,  Tatiana, & John.

SOURCES

"Neil Diamond reveals story behind 'Sweet Caroline'", by Lisa Respecs France, CNN, October 20, 2014, www.cnn.com

"Neil Diamond Reveals the Cute, Pervy Roots of 'Sweet Caroline'," Intelligencer, November 21, 2007, www.nymag.com

Caroline on Macaroni 

March 30 1962

Photo by Robert Knudsen

JFK Library Photo

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2013

November 27, 28, 2013

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 
                         FROM JFK+50

CAROLINE KENNEDY CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY

Tokyo, Japan (JFK+50) United States Ambassador to Japan and daughter of the 35th President of the United States, Caroline Kennedy, celebrates her birthday today.

Caroline Bouvier Kennedy was born on November 27, 1957.  She turned 6 years old just 5 days after JFK's death in November 1963.

Caroline was born at the Cornell Medical Center in New York City at 8:15 a.m. and weighed in at 7 pounds 2 ounces.

Caroline graduated from Radcliffe College in 1980 and earned her J.D. degree at Columbia Law School.

Caroline Kennedy married Edwin Scholossberg on July 19, 1986 but she chose not to change her name at marriage.  

The couple have 3 children:  Rose, born 1988,  Tatiana, born 1990, and John. born 1993.

Caroline was appointed Ambassador to Japan on July 24, 2013.  She appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 19 where she said that her focus in the position would be military ties, trade and student exchange.

Ambassador Kennedy was confirmed by the Senate on October 16 and sworn in by Secretary of State John Kerry as the 1st woman to hold the office of United States Ambassador to Japan on November 12, 2013.

Less than 2 weeks after becoming ambassador, Mrs. Kennedy, in her 1st official speech in that position, warned China for undermining security in the East China Sea.  

Caroline and JFK 

August 25, 1963

Photo by Cecil Stoughton

JFK Library Photo

Neil Diamond's hit song, "Sweet Caroline," was inspired by a news photograph of Caroline Kennedy with her pony Macaroni.

"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.

Hands, touching hands
Reaching out
Touching me
touching you.

Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I've been inclined
To believe they never would...."

Caroline Kennedy

George Washington University

September 26, 2011

Photo by John White