Hands washing hands: Neil Diamond pens amended version of Sweet Caroline

Neil Diamond has penned a new version of Sweet Caroline to encourage the public to wash their hands and follow social distancing advice.

The 79-year-old singer-songwriter shared a video to Twitter of himself singing the amended edition of his 1969 hit – featuring the lyrics: “Hands, washing hands, reaching out, don’t touch me, I won’t touch you.”

Diamond’s singing, as he sat with his dog in front of a fire at home, proved a huge hit online and has been viewed over a million times since posting on Sunday morning.

It comes after Liam Gallagher reworked Oasis songs on Saturday to encourage the public to keep up their hygiene in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Washing his hands at home, Gallagher sang revised hits including “Wonderwash”, “Soapersonic” and “Champagne Soapernova”.

The songs were all just short of 20 seconds, the length of time that the NHS recommends hands should be washed in order to combat the coronavirus.