Where it began, I can’t begin to know when…
That’s not true at all, in fact. I know exactly where and when it began: it was the moment Sir Ed Davey’s climactic speech ended at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton last month.
When that distinctive horn introduction started, it wasn’t too much of a surprise. There’s a video of Davey, delirious with joy, belting out Sweet Caroline on election night as the Lib Dems’ historic haul of seats became evident.
But I didn’t expect to hear that song three more times before the end of conference season, at every conference I attended.
When I briefly popped into the Reform UK afterparty the following Friday, there was novelty pop duo Bell & Spurling – best known for 2001 hit Sven, Sven, Sven – leading the crowd in a rendition of Sweet Caroline.
Then, at Dawn Butler MP’s famous Jamaica Party at the Labour conference in Liverpool, Reggae Reggae sauce inventor Levi Roots included a Sweet Caroline remix in his DJ set.
A week later, I heard it at the GB News ‘Big British Bash’ on the second night of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham – again sung by Bell & Spurling, incidentally.
No other song was played at all four events, at least as far as I heard.
So what is it about the 1969 Neil Diamond classic that appeals so much to a diverse range of voters across the political spectrum?
According to Dr Adam Behr of Newcastle University, who researches the links between music and politics, there’s a difference between the very public and deliberate use of the song by the Lib Dems and its appearance during parties at the other conferences.
He said there was likely to have been ‘if not a meeting, then an agenda item’ about Ed Davey’s walk-off music, and Sweet Caroline fitted the ‘celebratory’ mood of the conference after the party’s most successful election ever.
‘It’s a song that’s in the cultural DNA as a celebration song,’ Dr Behr said: good times never seemed so good.
At the Reform, Labour and Conservative conferences, the song made its appearance in an afterparty setlist – but just because it didn’t serve an official function doesn’t mean it wasn’t playing a specific, important role.
Dr Behr pointed out: ‘It’s one of those songs that projects a sense of unity, that actually encourages a sense of unity. Everyone knows the words, it’s in people’s cultural experience.’
The ‘sense of togetherness’ fostered by such a universally beloved singalong hit is part of the aim of party conferences, he said.
And there’s one other reason politicians might be tempted to deploy Sweet Caroline, after several high-profile controversies in recent years.
Dr Behr said: ‘Your odds are better that the artist’s not going to turn around and say, “I absolute refuse to endorse this.”
‘Neil Diamond’s a lot less likely than Mike Pickering from M People to a) notice or b) care that this song was played at a British political party’s party conference.’
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