It Had Better Be Tonight (Meglio stasera)

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 and English lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was composed for the 1963 film The Pink Panther. In the film, Princess Dala (played by Claudia Cardinale) (although performed by Fran Jeffries) sings the song while slowly dancing around a fireplace at a ski lodge in Cortina D' Ampezzo, Italy, where all the principal players of the film are gathered. The song is a candombe, a genre of popular dance music from Montevideo, Uruguay, and the candombe's requisite drummers can be seen at one point in the film. The arrangement is highly reminiscent of "Tamboriles" (J. Mateo - G. Brum) or "Retirada de Asaltantes con Patente 1932" (Manuel Perez) as recorded by Romeo Gavilio.

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.
• Another Italian version, arranged by Ennio Morricone and performed by Miranda Martino, in 1963 (on the compilation album Da Hollywood a Cinecittà). He later also did an instrumental version on compilation albums.
• 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 e il giorno muore,

E la notte porterà,

L'incertezza del domani,

Chi sa, chi sa?

Basta un desiderio solo,

A non farti riposar',

È 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: Better 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; it's like a flea on the sheets, so that you can't sleep. (Chorus)

Links

• An AVI of the same scene
• Obsession - the Fran Jeffries Blog