In Celebration of the Human Voice - The Essential Musical Instrument

It Had Better Be Tonight

From the musical

Pink Panther

Music by Henry Mancini, Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

Originally Performed by Dionne Warwick

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 where it was performed by Fran Jeffries. In addition to the vocal performance, instrumental portions of the song appear in the film's underscore, sometimes as an introduction to the main "Pink Panther Theme".

The beginning of the song, in the original Italian, is here followed by a literal translation and the first two lines of the English version which contains an Italian expression, "Fa' subito!", which translates as "do it right away", but which does not appear in the Italian lyrics. However, all the versions carry the same underlying meaning of "Let's make love tonight, because who knows what will happen tomorrow."

Release Date: 1963

Henry Mancini : The Henry Mancini Collection

With four Oscars and 20 Grammys to his credit, Henry Mancini is one of the most successful composers and arrangers of all time. This superb collection includes 45 songs spanning his illustrious career, including his popular television theme songs and movie classics: Baby Elephant Walk - Breakfast at Tiffany's - Charade - Days of Wine and Roses - Inspector Clouseau Theme - Le Jazz Hot - Mr. Lucky - Moon River - Newhart Main Title Theme - Peter Gunn - The Pink Panther - Remington Steele Theme - A Shot in the Dark - The Thorn Birds - Whistling Away the Dark - and more.

Songlist: Sometimes, Crazy World, You And Me, A Shot In The Dark, Inspector Clouseau Theme, March Of The Cue Balls, Arabesque, Slow Hot Wind (Lujon), Baby Elephant Walk, Experiment In Terror, Breakfast At Tiffany's, I'll Give You Three Guesses, Smile Away Each Rainy Day, Whistling Away The Dark, Charade, Days of Wine and Roses, Dear Heart, Dreamsville, Mr. Lucky, A Cool Shade Of Blue, How Soon, The Molly Maguires, Theme From Hatari, Mostly For Lovers, It's Easy To Say, The Dancing Cat, What's Happening, Moment To Moment, In The Arms Of Love, Le Jazz Hot, and more

Individual Folios

Displaying 1-2 of 2 items.

Kirby Shaw : It Had Better Be Tonight

Originally written by Johnny Mercer for The Pink Panther in 1963 and covered by Michael Bublé on his Call Me Irresponsible album from 2007, this uptempo classic sizzles with Latin fire. Available separately: SATB, SAB, SSA, ShowTrax CD. Combo parts available digitally (tpt 1, tpt 2, tsx, tbn, syn, gtr, b, dm). Duration: ca. 2:20.

Arranger: Kirby Shaw | Composer: Henry Mancini | Lyricist: Johnny Mercer Performed By: Michael Buble | Musical: Pink Panther

Alan Billingsley : It Had Better Be Tonight

Itis a spicy Latin flavored number as recorded by Michael Bublé. And hereis the surprise: it was written by legendary songwriters Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer! This hot, rhythmic arrangement captures the excitement of the Bublé version in a full-fledged choral style.

Arranger: Alan Billingsley | Composer: Henry Mancini | Lyricist: Johnny Mercer Performed By: Michael Buble | Musical: Pink Panther