Caruso Came “Over Here” to Sing “Over There”. America

Today in History, February 25: 1873 – Enrico Caruso, considered to be the greatest tenor to ever live, is born in Naples, Italy. Caruso would perform in opera houses all over the world before finally coming to America in 1903; soon after he would make the Metropolitan Opera House in New York his home base. Soon he was recording records for the Victor Talking Machine Company, later RCA Victor. Caruso would be the first person to sell over a million records, demonstrating his wide-spread popularity. When “The Great War” came, he showed his patriotism to his adopted country by singing a rousing song that inspired many to enlist and told the Hun that Americans were coming “Over There, and we wouldn’t come back til it was over….over there.”