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.”
Tag: caruso
“Johnny Get Your Gun!”
Mark Mears 1918 – Famous Opera Singer Enrico Caruso records “Over There”, a patriotic song written by George M. Cohan for the First World War…..Verse 1
Johnny,[2] get your gun, get your gun, get your gun.
Take it on the run, on the run, on the run.
Hear them calling you and me,
Every Son of Liberty.
Hurry right away, no delay, go today.
Make your Daddy glad to have had such a lad.
Tell your sweetheart not to pine,
To be proud her boy’s in line.
Verse 2
Johnny, get your gun, get your gun, get your gun.
Johnny, show the “Hun”[3] you’re a son-of-a-gun.
Hoist the flag and let her fly
Yankee Doodle[4] do or die.
Pack your little kit, show your grit, do your bit.
Yankee[5] to the ranks from the towns and the tanks.[6]
Make your Mother proud of you
And the old red-white-and-blue[7]
Chorus
Over there, over there,
Send the word, send the word over there
That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming
The drums rum-tumming everywhere.
So prepare, say a prayer,
Send the word, send the word to beware –
We’ll be over, we’re coming over,
And we won’t come back till it’s over, over there. http://youtu.be/uIr-FoBW5Xw
Mark Loves History! 