Debbie Schlussel: Neil Diamond, Pedophile?
By now, you've probably heard the news that Neil Diamond disclosed that he wrote his hit "Sweet Caroline" for Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, because of a LIFE Magazine photo of her on a horse when she was . . . 9(?!) and he was 25(?!).
The story--which belongs in People Magazine--was on the new People Magazine telecasts, last night: NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.
Says Diamond:
The star explained how he had been a "young, broke songwriter" when he saw a photograph of the president's daughter in a magazine."It was a picture of a little girl dressed to the nines in her riding gear, next to her pony," he recalled. "It was such an innocent, wonderful picture, I immediately felt there was a song in there."
Years later, holed up in a hotel in Memphis, he would write the words and music in less an hour.
I like Neil Diamond's "America," which has sadly become an anthem to illegal alien advocates and the open borders crowd. But I'm wondering: Is it just me . . . or is there something weird about a guy who is in his mid-to-late 20s writing a song about a girl that young, featuring these lyrics (remember Kennedy was 12 when the song came out, but was between 6 and 9 when it was written)?:
Hands, touching hands, reaching outTouching me, touching you
Oh, sweet Caroline . . . .
And now I, I look at the night, whooo
And it don't seem so lonely
We fill it up with only two, oh . . . .
How can I hurt when holding you
Oh, one, touching one, reaching out
Touching me, touching you
Oh, sweet Caroline
Neil Diamond gave the second largest divorce settlement in U.S. history ($150 million--at the time it was the largest, but now Michael Jordan's, just over $150 mill, is #1) to his second ex-wife, Marcia Murphey. Maybe she had something like this on him . . . ?
Just wondering.
Posted by Debbie on November 21, 2007 01:53 PM to Debbie Schlussel