Caruso

(Words and Music by Joan Baez)



Infinity gives me chills

So could the waters of Iceland

But there's a difference in finding diamonds in rust

And rhinestones in a dishpan

Miracles bowl me over

And often will they do so

Now I think I was asleep till I heard

The voice of the great Caruso



Bring infinity home

Let me embrace it one more time

Make it the lilies of the field

Or Caruso in his prime



A friend of mine gave me a tape

She'd copied from a record disc

It was made at the turn of the century

And found in a jacket labeled "misc."

And midst cellos, harps, and flugelhorns

With the precision of a hummingbird's heart

Was the lord of the monarch butterflies

One-time ruler of the world of art



Bring infinity home

Let me embrace it one more time

Make it the lilies of the field

Or Caruso in his prime



Yes, the king of them all was Enrico

Whose singular chest could rival

A hundred fervent Baptists

Giving forth in a tent revival

True he was a vocal miracle

But that's only secondary

It's the sould of the monarch butterfly

That I find a little bit scary



Bring infinity home

Let me embrace it one more time

Make it the lilies of the field

Or Caruso in his prime



Perhaps he's just a vehicle

To bear us to the hills of Truth

That's Truth spelled with a great big T

And peddled in the mystic's booth

There are oh so many miracles

That the western sky exposes

Why go looking for lilacs

When you're lying in a bed of roses?



Bring infinity home

Let me embrace it one more time

Make it the lilies of the field

Or Caruso in his prime



© 1976, 1977 Gabriel Earl Music (ASCAP)