MEGLIO STASERA

(Redirected from It Had Better Be Tonight)


'Meglio Stasera' (known in English as 'It Had Better Be Tonight'), is a 1963 song with music by Henry Mancini, Italian lyrics by Franco Migliacci, (songwriter) and English lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was composed for the 1964 film ''The Pink Panther''. In the film, a young actress named Fran Jeffries sings the song while slowly dancing around a fireplace at a ski lodge where all the principal players of the film are gathered.

Contents

Versions

Lyrics

Links

Versions

The song has been recorded in a number of versions:

★ The Italian version performed by Fran Jeffries that appears in the film, but not on the soundtrack record album.

★ An instrumental that resembles the underscore of Fran's rendition. This version is on the soundtrack album.

★ A group vocal with only vaguely related English lyrics, and it can be heard in the background during the fancy dress ball / costume party whilst the attempted robbery is taking place. This version is also on the soundtrack album.

★ A version of the song appears in another Sellers/Blake Edwards/Mancini collaboration; the 1968 film The Party.

★ Michael Bublé sings a version of the song on his 2007 album, Call Me Irresponsible.

Lyrics

Here is the beginning of the song, in the original Italian followed by a literal translation, and the first two lines of the "official" English words which, curiously, contain ''another'' Italian expression, which translates as "do it right away", and which does not appear in the actual Italian lyrics.
However, all the versions carry the same underlying meaning of "Let's make love tonight, because who knows what will happen tomorrow."
:Meglio stasera, che domani o mai,
:Domani chi lo sa, quel che sarà?
:'...'
:Better tonight, than tomorrow or never,
:Tomorrow who knows, what will be?
:'...'
:Meglio stasera, baby, go-go-go,
:Or as we natives say, "Fa subito!"
:'...'
The full Italian version of the song:
:Meglio stasera, che domani o mai,
:Domani chi lo sa, quel che sarà?
:Non mi dire d'aspettare,
:Il domani che verrà.
:È una porta che tu chiudi,
:Fra me e te.
:Se stasera ti decidi,
:A rispondermi di sì,
:I domani che verranno,
:Li dedico solo a te.
:Meglio stasera, che domani o mai,
:Domani chi lo sa, quel che sarà?
:Nasce il giorno ed il giorno muore,
:E la notte porterà,
:L'incertezza del domani,
:Chi sa, chi sa?
:Basta un desiderio solo,
:A non farti riposar',
:Ed una pulce sul lenzuolo,
:Che dormire non ti fa.
:Meglio stasera, che domani o mai,
:Domani chi lo sa, quel che sarà?
A ''loose'' translation of the Italian lyrics above:
:''Chorus'': It had better be tonight, than tomorrow or never. Tomorrow, who knows what will be?
:Don't tell me to wait for tomorrow to come. There's a door that you're closing, between you and me. Tonight, if you decide to say 'yes' to me, I'll devote the tomorrows to come only to you. (Chorus)
:The day is born, the day dies, and the night will bring the uncertainty of tomorrow ... who knows, who knows? Just a single desire is enough to give you no rest; and a solitary heartbeat on the sheets, that won't make you sleep. (Chorus)

Links

★ YouTube Video of the Pink Panther performance by Fran Jeffries

★ An AVI of the same scene