Infant Eyes/You Are So Beautiful to Me

You Are So Beautiful to Me
by Billy Preston/B. Fisher

You are so beautiful to me
You are so beautiful to me
Can't you see
You're everything I hoped for
You're everything I need
You are so beautiful to me

Such joy and happiness you bring
Such joy and happiness you bring
Like a dream
A guiding light that shines in the night
Heavens gift to me
You are so beautiful to me

I like to sing to my daughter now and then, especially at night sometimes when it’s difficult for her to go to sleep. Sometimes she’ll request certain songs and sometimes I’ll just sing one of my regulars for her like "Summertime," "God Bless the Child," "Santa Lucia," or "Infant Eyes."

I tried "You Are So Beautiful to Me" on her some time ago and I could tell she was really touched by it. I’m planning to sing it to her more often.

Here’s Patti LaBelle and Joe Cocker singing You Are So Beautiful in 1985.

When I heard the song, "Infant Eyes" as a child, I thought it was the most beautiful song that I had ever heard. My child wasn’t to come until many years later, but I felt some semblance of a mother’s love for her child when I heard it. "Infant Eyes" is a Wayne Shorter composition, but the Jean Carne version is the only one I’ve ever heard. I can’t imagine anyone singing it better than she did. It’s a masterpiece.


Infant Eyes
by Wayne Shorter

There’s no plan
Beneath the sky
The voice could never arise
That could sing of my love
Oh my, dear Infant Eyes

Infant Eyes
You are mine
Without your smile
The stars would fall
The moon would lose its glow
And the rivers would cease to flow
You know
I wish you could realize
This love I have inside
A love that never dies
Oh my, dear Infant Eyes