When I was a teenager, Moonstruck was one of my family’s favourite movies. We watched it together so often. The film borders on art-house because it’s steeped in cultural content and a style distinct from that seen in mainstream film. It’s quirky and certainly brash in terms of performance delivery and writing and the music therein is a spectacular reflection of its capriciousness. I purchased the soundtrack on cassette and listened to it to death. That’s where I relished in today’s featured song —It Must Be Him by Vikki Carr. Her impeccable singing on The Ed Sullivan Show, featured at the end of this post, is one for the ages. Pure class. As someone in the comments noted: “Singing live and totally on key…a lost art!”
It Must Be Him was originally a French song called Seul Sur Son Étoile and then the English version recorded by Vikki Carr, with lyrics by Mack David, was a hit around the world, reaching No. 3 in the United States, No. 2 in the UK, and No. 1 in Australia. The singer describes anxiously waiting by her telephone, desperately hoping that her former boyfriend will call, although they had separated. Carr went on to record it in Spanish and Italian, as well.
Vikki Carr (born Florencia Bisenta de Casillas-Martinez Cardona in 1941, El Paso, Texas) is an American singer whose soaring vocals and emotional intensity made her one of the most distinctive pop balladeers of the 1960s and 70s. Her breakthrough came with “It Must Be Him”. Its success catapulted her into international fame, particularly in the U.S. and the U.K., and it remains the defining song of her career, emblematic of her flair for passionate, theatrical delivery.
[Verse 1]
I tell myself, “What’s done is done”
I tell myself, “Don’t be a fool”
Play the field, have a lot of fun
It’s easy when you play it cool
I tell myself, “Don’t be a chump
Who cares? Let him stay away”
That’s when the phone rings and I jump
And as I grab the phone I pray
[Chorus]
Let it please be him, oh, dear God
It must be him, it must be him
Or I shall die, or I shall die
Oh, hello, hello, my dear God
It must be him, but it’s not him
And then I die, that’s when I die
[Verse 2]
After a while, I’m myself again
I pick the pieces off the floor
Put my heart on the shelf again
You’ll never hurt me anymore
I’m not a puppet on a string
I’ll find somebody else someday
That’s when the phone rings
And once again, I start to pray
[Chorus]
[Outro]
Let it please be him, oh, dear God
It must be him, it must be him
Or I shall die, or I shall die
References:
1. It Must Be Him (song) – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
HA! In 1967, this was so LAME!
In 1967, Monterey Pop was where the cool people were. I was only 7 years old but even I knew that.
As for Moonstruck, I LOVE that movie ~ it’s a favorite of both my son & myself ~ but like I often say to my son, what are the odds that marriage lasts? (this is a question we ask each other at the end of most romantic movies)
I don’t think the odds were very good at all. LOL
What is Monterey Pop?
I haven’t seen Moonstruck for decades, but I can remember it like it was yesterday. Both Cher and Cage are magnificent in it, although a very odd couple.
Re. marriages, my Brave AI tells me ‘sources indicate that 40-50% of first marriages end in divorce, implying that 50-60% last.’. So it doesn’t seem all doom and gloom.
Vikki was kinda ahead of her time…sweet…
Monterey Pop changed the sound of popular music ~ what you heard on the radio. & without Monterey Pop, there would have been no Woodstock Festival, 2 years later.
I forget how young you are. This was all happening when I was growing up & music was SO great in those days. So much more than now.
I don’t mean to dis on Vikki Carr. She’s really pretty good. If my last name ended in a vowel, I probably would have grown up with parents who bought her records. As it was, my parents were into classical music & the Beatles.
I imagine that music from just about any era was so much better than what we have now.
Also, like how the Bee Gees’ disco music went out of style in the early 80s and then came back with enormous appeal, the lame ‘It Must Be Him’, as you called it (for its time), now sounds f&cking hip and kitsch — not to mention the vocals are incredible, at least to my ears.
While stylistically “It Must Be Him” falls outside my core wheelhouse, a great performance is a great performance, and that’s definitely the case in this clip of Vikki Carr – bravo!
It’s most definitely not in my arena of preferred music also, but when I first heard it in Moonstruck I was besotted with it. As you imply the performance is top notch.