‘Sweet Caroline’ Gets Banned From Penn State
Penn State football fans love to sing Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.” But in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal the school has deemed the song inappropriate for sing-a-longs inside the stadium.
The song includes lyrics like “touching me, touching you,” which, within the walls of the Nittany Lions’ stadium, can be mistaken for lyrics describing the molestation of little boys.
Penn State is trying to erase any memory of Jerry Sandusky and Joe Paterno from the halls of Penn State. Sandusky has been removed from the school’s mural, Paterno’s statue was taken down, and due to the NCAA sanctions, the school was forced to forfeit 111 wins during the Paterno era.
But what did Neil Diamond do to deserve such a punishment?
According to TMZ, Diamond once said that the song was inspired by a photo of Caroline Kennedy when she was 11-years-old.
“It was a picture of a little girl dressed to the nines in her riding gear, next to her pony. It was such an innocent, wonderful picture, I immediately felt there was a song in there.”
Diamond’s interpretation of the photo, despite lyrics like “touching me, touching you,” seems pretty innocent. It’s pretty obvious, however, why Penn State decided to ban the song.
According to Yahoo, “Sweet Caroline” wasn’t the only song removed from Penn State’s playlist this year. The names of the other songs haven’t been released.
What do you think? Should Penn State fans be allowed to sing “Sweet Caroline?”
