Megabytes

I recently discovered this song, in particular, the rendition by Peggy Lee. This woman is the swingingest singer around. Get out of town, ol’ blue eyes! Miss Peggy Lee sings songs around you.

The Song
Written in 1963 by Henry Mancini for a Pink Panther movie, Italian lyrics were written by Franco Migliacci. Johnny Mercer kept some of the original italian phrases and words when he wrote the English lyrics. Meglio stasera is his title and loosely translated means ‘It had better be tonight.’ Fa subito means ‘do it quickly.’
Here are the complete English lyrics, with breaks at the choruses and verses:

Meglio stasera
Baby go go go
Or as we natives say
“Fa subito!”

If you’re ever gonna kiss me
It had better be tonight
While the mandolins are playing
And stars are bright

If you’ve anything to tell me
It had better be tonight
Or somebody else may tell me
And whisper the words just right

Meglio stasera
Baby go go go
Or as we natives say
“Fa subito!”

For this poor Americana
Who knows little of your speech
Be a nice Italiano
And start to teach

Show me how in old Milano
Lovers hold each other tight
But I warn you sweet paesano
It had better be tonight

Meglio stasera
Baby go go go
Or as we natives say
“Fa subito!”

The Songstress
I’ve written about Miss Peggy Lee before; raving about her song, It’s a Good Day. When It Had Better Be Tonight came up in my iTunes party shuffle, I quickly gave it a 5-star rating.
It starts out with a latin-style trumpet soli intro. Then she sings. and swings. Lee has a way of singing that suggests she is only sharing half of her hot, steamy, sultry self. I’ve always loved that about her. She leaves you wanting more. She sings with a relaxed, laid back feel, that is at the same time driving and forceful. This delivery by Lee is what makes the tune so captivating.
The drummer kicks the band up a notch after the first two verses and the trumpets throw out some accented falls. Then I hear in her voice, an almost growl of craving in the last chorus as she sings, ‘Baby, go go go.’ She holds her last note for a strong 28 beats as the band swings behind her, trumpets screaming into the stratosphere! Very exciting.

Listen
If you want to hear this song, contact me via email. We can set up an iChat over which I can play the song.